In Plain Sight
by Aspirator
Summary: "Love is a powerful motivation." He said, his warm eyes focusing back on her awed ones. "It makes you risk it all and think it's all worth it." But it was not time to sing to Juliet, Romeo. No, it was time for war. Time to crush souls, tear apart families, break hearts. There will be espionage, bloodshed, battle of the wits, and worst of all...Syaoran's driving.
1. They'll Never See It Coming

_The following __**teaser trailer**__ has been approved for appropriate audiences._

_Rated T for language, suggestions of sex ions away from lime or lemon, and violence._

_._

.

.

.

.

.

From the Gakuen Alice Reader's Choice Award Winning Author, **Aspirator**

.

.

.

.

.

.

Written

_as a sequel for,_

_but can be read independent from_

**THE A TEAM **

_A Gakuen Alice Fanfiction Story_

.

.

.

.

.

.

Imagine the scenes described flashing on the screen while you hear the bolded dialogue as a voice over. In the end, it'll explain where the voice over is coming from_._

_There is no chronological order to these events_

_._

_._

_._

.

.

.

.

"_**They've thrown our backs against the wall!"**_

Yuka is catapulted from the explosion. Like a small tootsie roll, her body bounced off the wall and rolled onto the ground, just inches from the scathing fire. Her dirtied hands claw at the ground as she struggled to get up. Her face is scrunched up in grief as she looked back at the still burning fire. She ducked quickly, covering her head just as burning debris flew by.

She cried out in suffering for a part of the brick wall tumbled down on her lower body. Yuka spared a glance at the ever increasing fire as the heat intensified. Her brain was turning quickly while her eyes were assessing the situation and her hands were picking apart the layers of bricks on top of her. She gasped when she spotted the crates of oil in the far corner. She focused on the task of freeing her lower body.

Coughing against the poisonous smoke, she thrust a heavy brick resting on her abdomen urgently away. Yuka glanced up. The fire was making its way across the building. Quickly calculating the distance between the fire and oil crates, her eyes widened.

200 meters.

She grabbed a brick in each hand, shoving them off her right thigh. She was desperate now, digging her hands through the layers of bricks and shoving them aside.

100 meters.

Yuka grunted painfully, tugging at her legs. She pushed at the bricks and pulled at her broken legs with all her strength. She needed to survive this. She needed to get back to base. She needed to see Mikan again -

"_**There has to be something - anything."**_

Sakura lay on the hospital bed, immobile and unconscious. All the machines surrounding her couldn't help her.

Syaoran lay with his head down, by her side, his hand not letting go of hers. His hair a mess and his bloodied clothing dirty. His body language weary and distraught.

Eriol stood by the wall. He, on the other hand, had changed to cleaner clothes, but also stand weary and distraught.

Syaoran picked up his head, and Eriol turned his to stare curiously at the heart monitor. It was starting to slow.

Desperately, Syaoran sat up, pleading with the unconscious woman, taking her hand in both of his. Eriol stepped forward in concern, resting a consoling hand on his partner's shoulder.

Without fail, the heart monitor slowed...and slowed...until it flatlined. The horrific sound filled Syaoran's ears. With widened eyes, he shouted in rage.

Quickly, Eriol grabbed his partner's arm and wrenched him back. The doors slammed open and Dr. Imai runs in, along with Nonoko and Anna. Nonoko was fumbling with medical equipment. Dr. Imai was performing CPR. Anna was setting up the defibrillator. They were going to do anything that could save their friend.

Eriol holds onto Syaoran shakily as tears of his own flows from his face. He couldn't bear to see his partner's heart broken expression. The scene was horrific.

"_**Run?"**_

Nonoko, who was supposed to be keeping an eye out, ran towards Yuu with an urgent expression. Yuu didn't have to read her lips nor hear her words to know what she said. He quickly snatched the flash drive out of the side of the laptop. He rushed out of the office, just as she reached him, and they ran down the hallway, turning randomly.

Yuu and Nonoko ran and ran - until they reached the end of a hallway. They looked around harriedly, Nonoko muttering curses under her breath.

Yuu stopped, grabbing her hand. She looked at him questionably, but he wasn't looking at her. He was looking at the window that ended the hallway.

There was a uniform inhale of breath, as they took ten steps back. Then, with intertwined fingers, they sprinted at the clear glass - their arms and knees lifting as shards of glass exploded around them.

"_**How? Where? They've got us."**__  
_

The camera shutter clicks. A hand twisted the lens to zoom in on the scene.

Behind the back of a building, in a tight alleyway, almost completely shadowed, were two figures. They seemed to be in deep discussion, the taller figure - the one called Natsume - had a dark expression on his face. While the shorter female - the cameraman knew her as one of them, Mikan - seemed to be pleading with him. Then they launched into some type of argument. It was over quickly however, when Natsume suddenly reached out for her cheek and enveloped her mouth with his.

The camera shutter clicked some more.

_**"No...no, we have one more option."**_

The breath is knocked out of Eriol as he slammed heavily against the wall. He glanced up blearily to see his partner, Syaoran, combating the hooded individual. By the way the attacker moved, Eriol deduced she was a woman. Syaoran crouched down, evading a blow, instead, throwing his leg forward to trip his opponent. The attacker jumped out of the way and onto Syaoran, bringing him down. Syaoran wrestled the attacker, finally throwing her off and quickly standing up to face her.

Their physical combat travelled down the corridor and around the corner, out of Eriol's sight. By the sound of grunts and thuds, Eriol knew they weren't too far.

Syaoran dodged another kick and jab at his body as he was pushed backwards into another corridor and around the corner. He brought his body down to a low crouch as she had jumped and attempted to kick him in the upper body. When she only met air, she ended up revising her movement and landing on his back as he crouched. Wrestling her stranglehold, Syaoran threw her off his back, standing as he did so.

Rather than falling to the ground, Syaoran's attacker had swiftly backflipped - pausing momentarily in a handstand. She had suddenly forward flipped, running both her legs straight into Syaoran's chest. Having seen it coming just a millisecond before, Syaoran had attempted to swipe at the attacker's face. He had only managed to dislodge her mask while she threw him down to the ground and knocked out his breath. She landed with her knees on his chest.

The flips had blown his attacker's deep hood off, revealing sunkissed blonde locks and bright emerald eyes. If Syaoran's breath weren't knocked out already, it was now.

"_**And what's that?"**_

The cars whizzed by in a flash, going more than 100 miles per hour. Natsume sat calmly behind the wheel of one of the race cars, turning the wheel swiftly, bracing himself against the seat at the sharp turn. From his peripheral vision, he saw Mochu's flashy red Nissan catching up next to him. But that wasn't what he was worried about.

He felt a strong jolt and the sharp sound of his car being scratched. To his left was a black Acura bumping roughly against him. Jerking his wheel, and pressing on the gas pedal harder, Natsume tried to get out of the way. He felt the back end of his car run into Mochu's. There was a curse and the red Nissan veered away - but another black Acura flew out of nowhere, blocking his path.

At 175 mph, there was only one outcome from such a situation.

Natsume glanced to his right just in time to see bright sparks and the red Nissan flying in the air, twisting 360 degrees a dozen times, then landing on its roof. He was forced to peel his eyes away as he felt the two Acuras zone in on him.

He took a glance to his left as he turned sharply in that direction, causing the chaser to his right fall back- but the black Acura to his left kept up. They were window to window now, scratching each other's paint occasionally. He glanced once more to his left, just as its driver looked at him.

He nearly lost his grip on the wheel when he caught sight of long auburn locks, familiar hazel eyes, and a slight, mischievous smile to her lips.

"_**Hide in plain sight."**_

Sakura patted down her pant suit one more time. She took a deep breath. She pushed through the opaque glass to face ten agents sitting around the conference table. At their mixed look of surprise, suspicion, curiosity, and caution, she took out a small square ID from her pocket. Opening it, she flashed them an Interpol badge, greeting them all amiably.

"_**Are you sure?"**_

The static voices came out of a laptop, resting innocently in the middle of a conference table. It was obviously tampered with, both completely encrypted and undecipherable. Ten agents sat solemnly around the table.

Natsume Hyuuga. Hotaru Imai. Yuu Tobita. Nonoko Ogasawara. Anna Umenomiya. Kokoro Yome. Kitsuneme. Mochiage - also known as Mochu. Syaoran Li. Eriol Hiiragizawa.

"_**They'll never see it coming."**_

.

.

.

.

.

.

Premiering

**FEBRUARY 14, 2014**

in a browser near you

.

.

.

.

Twelve able bodied men and women stand before their transportation. Each carrying satchels of equipment in big black bags or backpacks.

Tomoyo stood before Eriol, fussing over his appearance. As of currently, she's fixing the high-tech glasses on his face, muttering about its resistance to stupidity, and goodness, if only Eriol could be a little gentler on the lens-that-also-turns-into-a-screen. No wonder Tomoyo is always off fixing the darned thing.

While Anna and Nonoko melted at their cuteness, Syaoran grimaced.

Sakura stepped up to stand next to him. She smile charmingly at the agent. "Ready?"

"Yeah." Syaoran responded with a straight face.

"Good." Her smile widened.

"Great." He squared his shoulder.

"Okay." Now she was full on grinning, giving him a strange look.

"Alright." Syaoran nodded at her.

Sakura nods back with a small, confused chuckle before she ambled off.

Koko walked by Syaoran, pausing next to him. "You really have a way with women," he commented cheekily.


	2. Something's Wrong

_Two months ago_

A lone, petite figure paced back and forth in the small study. It was one of the Alices buildings unconnected - quite a bit of distance, actually - to the main Alice Headquarters. They call this branch "The Library" since it was mostly filled with archived missions, old training manuals, research materials, all sorts of books, and small study rooms.

The lady bit her lip, glanced at her watch, and paced some more. No more than five minutes later, the door swung open. It revealed another petite Alice, with darker brown hair and likewise brown eyes. She wasn't paying attention to the lady already in the room, however, reading over a piece of paper in her hands.

She stopped short as soon as she sensed the other presence in the room.

Sakura crossed her arms, her feet apart. "You're late."

Both of Mikan's brows rose. "You're kidding. And what were you the past six months?"

Averting her eyes, the other Alice, grumbled, "I'm early today."

"Yes - so what's wrong?" Mikan watched her friend warily, gently setting the paper in her hands down on a nearby table.

Sakura smiled briefly at the assumption that something had to be wrong for her to be early. She stalked quickly to the door, closing it firmly. "Something dangerous, something crazy is about to go down."

Mikan laughed lightly. "And there you have it - the job description of an Alice in one sentence."

"No, I mean, yeah, but…" Sakura scrambled for words to describe her thoughts. "I picked up on some things, and I don't know, I just feel like," She lowered her voice to barely above a whisper, "things are changing. In a bad way."

Mikan mirrored her counterpart's frown. She's not quite getting the message.

Sakura continued, "Something happened four years ago right? I left before that, but, it was something huge right?"

The other Alice nodded affirmatively, her eyes betraying pain and suffering.

"It changed Master." She mouthed quietly. "He's gotten stricter. The missions have been more frequent and dangerous. He changes his mind randomly and sometimes he rushes the missions, even though there's no time constraint - not that I can see. Whatever his plans are, he's speeding it up in random bursts. He started having this severe power-complex."

Mikan blinked, her hazel eyes shifting as her mind processed the new information. With the same straight face, she added, "And that was also when Persona introduced Master to meth."

"I'm serious." Sakura was not amused. She cracked a smile when she thought back to an event a few months ago. "Remember when he tried cocaine?" The pair giggled. Okay, maybe she was a little amused.

Mikan, however, did sense the urgency in her friend's tone. "Yes, things are changing - so?"

"So it's not stopping there." Sakura expressed her concerns. "It's getting worse and worse, I don't know what this is all going to amount to, and I really don't want to know or be there when it happens."

"You think Master's gonna snap at one point." Mikan interpreted.

"I'm worried what he'll do."

"Kill everybody, most likely. Torture them first." Mikan dished out bluntly.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Well duh, but who's gonna go first? You?"

Mikan pretended to think about it. "Yeah, probably." When Sakura sent her a 'this is a serious discussion' look. Mikan sighed, shaking her head. "If he snaps, it's gonna affect everyone." She looked to her friend with serious brown eyes, "it's gonna affect you too, no matter where you are. You're 'The Princess'. You're his trump card."

"But you're closer. And you have history - which, by the way, nobody's bothered to tell me." Sakura spoke with a slight bitterness, because of all the Alices, she was the only one not told of Mikan's history.

Mikan's cracked a small smile. She hummed a little in thought. "How about this? We'll watch each other's backs."

The other Alice's response was immediate and resolute, "I'll do it even if you hadn't asked."

Mikan agreed silently. "If something terrible _does_ go down," She held out her pinky. "We'll have each other. It'll be us against the world."

The two Alices hooked their pinkies, and pressed their thumbs together. "A promise to the grave."

"...if we get a grave."

Sakura slapped Mikan's shoulder. "Geez, where'd you learn all this pessimism from?"

Mikan smiled reminiscently as she thought of piercing scarlet eyes and dark mess of a hair. She said nothing on the subject, however. "C'mon, let's get started on your training." She grinned, holding up the map of London. "Time to put those memorization skills to the test."

.

.

.

**In Plain Sight**

_**Aspirator**_

_note:_ I apologize for my inability to create an Italian-accented dialogue, so just pretend.

.

.

.

_One Week Ago_

.

It was large room, not easily seen, but can be inferred from the shadows that marked continuing space. There was only one light. It was on a metallic black desk. On the desk were many tools, evenly placed apart from each other, organized neatly. Next to the neat arrangement were a mess of electronic parts. In the midst of the unorganized pile were small, pale hands tweaking wires and fitting parts together. There was a tiny flash, then a muttered curse as the pale hands dropped the device in reaction. The hands quickly picked it up again, but there was a slight shaking of the fingers as it handled the delicate contraption.

The owner of the shaking hands was a petite woman. She had short black hair, but in this light it looked almost dark violet. It matched the color of her irises, which had been a default cold, hard amethyst for the past six months.

The table she was working on had only one drawer. It was kept locked at all times. Unbeknownst to its owner, a small earpiece she had kept inside the drawer sparked to life.

"Hotaru." A voice came through the earpiece, "Hotaru."

The technician paid no attention as she grabbed another tool to fix up the invention in her hands. There was quiet moment before it sparked to life with a static noise. She played around with it some more, placing her tool neatly back in its spot and grabbing another one. Soon enough, voices came through the small speaker. It seemed like she stumbled upon military channels.

"Dammit." She turned it off, slamming it on the table, taking it apart angrily. She didn't want military channels. She wanted a specific frequency, one that was more secure than military channels. One that belonged to the Alices.

In the impending silence, her sharp ears finally picked up a quiet sound. With furrowed eyebrows and an anxiety she didn't know she had, she hastily grabbed the key from inside her pocket, opening the drawer. She saw that the earpiece was indeed the source of the noise and someone was calling out to her.

"Hotaru." The voice she had identified as Yuu's was pleading now. "please, please, by God, please pick up."

She put it on, trying to calm hope rising in her heart. Blandly, she replied, "I'm here."

A sigh of relief passed through the earpiece. "Thank God. We contacted you first because we thought you might help us find the rest. Where are you? We'll go find you."

Hotaru identified the voice as Nonoko's. She wasn't surprised they were together. Impassively, she replied, "What happened?"

Nonoko gave a faint, "you go."

Yuu's voice came through clearly. "Narumi came to see us." There was a pause before he continued, "Well - not exactly. He sent a message. It said, 'battles have been won, a victory is looming but not for the right people. The Queen's knights have been attacked.'"

Hotaru inhaled quickly, but her face did not change. She sat up straighter. Of course Narumi would give them a cryptic message that almost sounded like a line from a fairytale book. But she understood it. So the Alices are moving quickly and they're ready to win. The Queen's knights bit caught her attention. He had to be talking about their British allies. Immediately, two names popped in her head. Syaoran Li and Eriol Hiragizawa. So they've been attacked too. She should've expected it.

To fill in the silence, Yuu continued, "We, um...we thought we should probably talk to you first. Maybe we could find everyone else - get our team together and talk about it." He trailed off uncertainly.

The A Team, the best criminal investigation team in the United States, under the Federal Bureau of Investigation had disbanded six months ago. In fact, they had been publicly proclaimed dead. All because of one woman by the name of Mikan Sakura, under the orders of the Alices' Master.

"You thought right." Hotaru confirmed. She rolled her chair down her left, causing another motion sensored light to turn on, and revealing an extension to the desk. This side of the desk was full of modified laptops and screens, keyboards, electronics. Mikan had told her six months ago to lay off the electronics, that _she _was the easiest to be found because of them.

Of course, Hotaru hadn't listened. She had been using another hacker's signature with the computer this whole time - and not just one, but she had been rotating between hackers' signatures every week to avoid detection. Discovering that she was the team's giveaway only made her train herself to be better at technology.

She quickly looked up Nonoko and Yuu's position. She had been keeping track of everyone.

Maybe she was waiting for this moment for the past six months. She was waiting for something to happen, something she could use as an excuse to get back to work. To bring everyone back, to go get Mikan. She paused - no, Hotaru, don't get your hopes up.

In a matter of minutes, Hotaru spoke up again, "Koko's with Kitsuneme in Rio. Natsume probably listens to his ear piece, I'll call him." Hotaru checked her watch, then she looked back at the map of the world on her screen with eight glowing dots scattered about it. "I'll be on my way to Australia in two hours, meeting up with Anna. No, make that five hours. I'll stop by Hong Kong to get Mochu."

"B-but h-how do we get there?" Yuu was surprised, Hotaru could tell, by his stuttering.

She pressed on the glowing dot in Hawaii. So Yuu and Nonoko work side by side in a bland office. "You have a printer in your office?"

"Y-yeah, h-how...nevermind."

"Go to work tomorrow, clean out your office, tickets for both of you will print out of your printer and their addresses. You're both quitting." Hotaru stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"I-uh-oh-okay."

"There also will be another set of tickets - four for all of you - going to San Juan. And another address. We'll meet there in two days.''

"H-how did you b-buy-"

"Doesn't matter." Hotaru replied quickly. It wasn't like she hacked into airline companies and reserved the seats without actually paying, or anything like that. "How do we contact Narumi?"

There was a long beat of silence. "We can't." Yuu sighed.

"Since when did you question my abilities?" She scowled in response.

"We know you can reach anywhere, Hotaru, with your technology." Yuu gently responded. "It's just…"

Another long pause.

Hotaru really wasn't liking the sound of this. "Spit it out."

Nonoko was the one to deliver the message. "I don't think it's possible to reach beyond the grave."

The blow knocked out Hotaru's breath. She should've known. The Alices were tying up loose ends. But to actually hear the news… "How?"

"Car accident." Yuu's voice was solemn.

Hotaru scoffed. Yeah, right. It had to be the Alices.

The other two shared her beliefs, but said nothing. Instead, Nonoko spoke up, "At least he got his message to us." Trust her to try to be optimistic.

There was another bout of grim silence. Hotaru could just imagine the pair glancing at each other.

Yuu spoke up, "Hotaru? Are you there?"

Hotaru snapped out of her thoughts. "See you in two days." She stated emotionlessly, signaling the end of conversation.

In two days, as Hotaru had predicted, they all met up in an old foreclosed home.

There were hugs, warm embraces - ones that even Natsume and Hotaru had begrudgingly accepted - and tears. There was an excited chatter, telling of what they'd been up to, stories of what they'd seen out there.

Hotaru took this chance to observe everyone.

Koko and Kitsuneme seemed happy. They had travelled the world - then again, they were homeless and broke. But they made the best out of it. Of course, nothing could compare to their experiences with the A Team, but it was fun nonetheless. They were both tanner, was her first impression. Koko had kept his hair down to his ears, but it was messily cut and he blamed it on the sketchy salon in Costa Rica. Kitsuneme had also cut his hair but shorter than he'd like. He blamed the same woman, saying she lied and said he looked incredibly macho.

Mochu had - not surprisingly - fallen in with the other side of the law. But he says it wasn't technically criminal. He just raced cars, dabbled in sex and alcohol, and perhaps delved a little into the drug scene. He quickly defended that he wasn't _actually_ dealing, he was just...delivering. It was part of the race scene and there was no way he could run from it. He could tell what kind car it was just by the revving on the engine. Apparently, he was born to race, and the main reason he got into it was the women. Oh, the women, he grinned wolfishly, they were damn hot, he said. While Koko and Kitsuneme stayed poor, he had earned from his fast life and was living it up.

Anna found a sweet little job in Australia as a zookeeper. It was unexpected but expected of her at the same time. She was, of course, lonely, and she missed all of them, but she loved the animals and they weren't too bad of a company.

Nonoko and Yuu, as Hotaru knew, had bland jobs in an office. They said it was most boring thing they've ever done and obviously they've sorely missed being investigators. They said it wasn't too bad, however, since they had each other and their co-workers were nice. They loved the weather.

Hotaru had explained that she was in Germany. By day, she was a researcher at an innovative space technology company. It was completely boring, she said, they just talked to people up at the International Space Station all day and fixed space ships. At that point, Koko and Kitsuneme turned to each other with raised eyebrows, mouthing, 'boring?' incredulously. She added that by night, she would tinker. And they all knew what she meant by that. They had grins on their faces because they knew they were getting more advanced gadgets and better technology.

Natsume seemed the worst off. His eyes held a heartbreakingly emptiness to it, and his face was unemotional throughout. There were a slight curving of the lips for a few seconds there, but that was it. He hadn't strayed far. Actually he hadn't strayed at all. He was staying in New York - in which Yuu had looked incredibly worried - and added that it wasn't like being in another part of the world would've been less dangerous. After a moment, he stated he kept in touch with Ruka. Here, his eyes flickered to Hotaru. So that was why he stayed, the rest of the team realized quietly. The team waited, but he said nothing more. Hotaru, since she was keeping track of him, spoke up shortly that he did nothing with his life but drank and drove. Not at the same time, of course. Aside from herself, everyone was astonished.

Mochu had replied incredulously, "you raced?!"

Natsume was in a better mood than he had been in six months, so he did elaborate some, "I never lost."

"Did you go to the international race? In Japan?" Mochu asked wide-eyed.

"The first prize was some drug shit, so I pulled second to get the money." Natsume replied casually but everyone smiled at the pride he had in his voice.

Mochu's jaw went slack, and he had to hold on Kitsuneme with one arm and Koko with the other. "You were the 'Black Cat'?!" The awe in his voice was unmistakable.

"A black cat?" Nonoko asked cluelessly.

"I heard rumors," Mochu told the rest of the team, excitedly but also scandalously as if sharing a huge secret, "there was a racer they call the 'Black Cat'. He never revved his engine, he would just let it purr. That's where the cat comes in. And his car was-"

"Black." Koko rolled his eyes, "obviously."

Mochu clicked his tongue at him, glaring for stealing his thunder. "Anyway, he came out of nowhere like three months ago and he just started going up the line with harder and harder races. He never got out of his car though, so not a lot of people knew what he looked like. He would always creep up at the last second out of nowhere and cross the line first! He had a Nissan Skyline with -"

"-before you get into details," Koko interrupted, "we don't care."

Mochu glared, then exclaimed enthusiastically, "fine. All you need to know was he had an awesome car, he raced awesomely - just - HE WAS AWESOME."

"Looks like you have a number one fan." Kitsuneme commented to Natsume. Natsume rolled his eyes.

"Were you there?" Anna asked Mochu. "At that international race thingy?"

Averting his eyes he mumbled something about being busy.

Natsume lips lifted in a light smirk, "he got beat by a girl in the semis."

Mochu protested embarrassedly, causing laughter. The A team were happy that they could pull an expression out of Natsume.

The laughter and the conversation died down. The team appraised each other.

Hotaru spoke up, deciding that it was time to get down to business. "Narumi sent a message to Yuu and Nonoko that the Alices are making their moves. They're waging war against government agencies, and for a lack of better words, the good people. They've attacked our MIA friends."

"So where's Narumi?" Anna asked.

Hotaru exchanged looks with Yuu and Nonoko.

Koko quickly read into it. "No - don't tell me…"

Hotaru pursed her lips grimly. Yuu looked away. Nonoko, again, was the one to break the news. "He was killed in a...suspicious car accident."

A moment of silence ensued as the team grieved for their former handler. The FBI Senior agent may have been fun-loving, enigmatic, and eclectic, but he watched out for them and gave them a push in the right direction when they needed it.

There were nervous looks around the room. Yuu had quickly recognized the inner conflict and spoke up, "w-we agreed we wouldn't-" The team had made a pact six months ago to split up and start a new life, with only the memories of their past life as belongings.

"Let's do it." Natsume spoke up, his voice with a hard edge to it.

Mochu jumped, punching the air, "Hell yeah!"

"About time." Hotaru spoke up, a rare smile playing on her lips.

"We've been talking about this, man," Kitsuneme gestured between himself and Koko, "we were waiting for this moment."

Anna shrugged with a grin. "I missed chasing down bad guys."

Nonoko agreed wholeheartedly, "Like I said, that office job was boring."

They all turned to Yuu, who sighed in defeat. He turned to Nonoko, commenting, "Guess that martial arts class was the right idea after all."

Hotaru hid a knowing smile. Despite having disbanded six months ago, just like her, they were all preparing for a fight anyway.

"No way - nawww - really?!" Were the reactions around the room.

"We're both black belts." Nonoko grinned proudly.

"Dude!" Koko nudged Kitsuneme, "We took like Tae Kwon Do lessons in...where was that?"

"Somewhere around Peru," Kitsuneme waved dismissively, turning to the team, "we were prodigies." They both puffed their chests out proudly.

"Or stumbling amateurs," Anna disagreed playfully, "if they're as reliable as your hair stylist."

"So we're really gonna fight the biggest, baddest criminal organization in the world?" Mochu looked around for confirmation.

"Hell yeah!" Kitsuneme fist pumped the air.

Amidst the excitement, Koko quietly asked Natsume, "You haven't given up on her, have you?" Koko looked at him tentatively, because he knew he was straddling a line, if not stepping over it.

Natsume turned to him and Koko easily read the conflict in his eyes. So he had tried. But of course he didn't. And he won't.

.

.

.

_Present day_

.

.

"Okay, you ready?" Tsubasa turned to Sakura, expectant face full of anxiety and worry. They were in one of the Alices headquarters technology room, sitting in front of a myriad of screens and keyboards.

She gave him a look, "really? What have I been preparing for the past six months?"

He rolled his eyes, "I'm just worried, Sakura, don't sass me."

"This is like any other undercover operation." She responded calmly as she patted her pantsuit down again, practicing her Italian accent.

Tsubasa whirled back to her in all seriousness, "Sakura. You're going into the enemy's front lines for a long, long time. This is not just any undercover op, this is _deep."_

"Okay, okay." She slipped into her native tongue, an American accent, lifting her palms as a symbol of surrender. The other Alice sent her a sharp look, so she spoke the next line back in her Italian tone. "I got this."

"You better not be making any more of those slip ups." He warned.

Sakura fixed her pantsuit for the umpteenth time. "You fixed my Interpol profile and background and everything?"

"Yup," Tsubasa grinned, patting his laptop fondly, "down to middle school."

"Better get working on grade school, Tsubasa." Mikan voice entered the conversation as she entered the room. "They dig deep."

Tsubasa made a face at her, "whatever, I'll get one of the techs to do it."

"I'd actually rather that, you'd probably put something stupid like Most Ugly Award in second grade." Sakura rolled her eyes.

Tsubasa grinned. "Good idea."

Mikan smiled, handing Sakura her 'Interpol' gun. "Remember," she reminded her, "government agents always reach for their gun first. I know you spent the past six months training for this mission, but you can't beat reflex. And we're trained for hand to hand combat. So, whenever something happens, reach for your gun first. They're sharp, Sakura, they'll catch your slip ups."

Sakura nodded breathing in deeply. "Okay, okay." She stuffed the gun in her trousers as she grabbed the Interpol ID from the table and slipped it into her pocket. "I got this. I'm ready."

.

.

.

Deep under the cover of an Interpol agent - and as Alices they were very thorough. They made sure that they had at least some of the top or more accessible Interpol agents accompanying her to make it look legitimate. Just in case if any of the MIA agents that she's about to meet is going to double check.

With that said, Sakura walked briskly beside an Interpol agent. He was a stiff, tall man without much to say. He led her through the doors of the MIA headquarters, spoke with the lady at the front desk, escorting her up to a certain floor, then mercilessly dropped her off with (at least she was kind-looking) another lady.

"Hi, I'm Rika." She extended her hand.

"Hello." Sakura greeted politely in her Italian accent. "Sakura."

She conversed lightly with the Interpol agent as they walked through a sleek hallway, surrounded by glass - some clear, though she could only see empty rooms, and some opaque, in which she saw shadows - and steel framing. Rika was the "secretary" there, and that's to put it broadly. She basically runs all the errands, the paperworks, and any other little things that keep the "system", as she calls it, running.

This floor, apparently, is one of the top floors - and she's not only talking about height. The people on this floor are usually their best or better in their field of study.

There were two of them, secretaries, she means. She is one, and the other is called Naoko. Naoko does most of the paperwork, while she does more of the running around kind of thing.

Sakura will get to know most of the people as she goes along, Rika says. She believes that the mission will take a while, and her voice turned up in a question as she reached the end of the sentence. Sakura nods affirmatively, slowing as Rika did in front of a large room - presumably a conference room, though she couldn't see much through the opaque glass.

The sweet lady smiled at her, "wait here," she stopped Sakura before the opaque door. She opened the door slightly, peeking in. She announced, "Interpol's here to see you."

Sakura heard someone exclaim, "how does Interpol know-"

He was shushed.

Someone must've given a silent green light, for Rika turned to her with a bright smile, "go ahead."

Sakura smiled back at the nice lady politely, and in her Italian accent, quietly spoke, "Thank you."

Sakura patted down her pant suit one more time. She took a deep breath. She pushed through the opaque glass to face ten agents sitting around the conference table. Sakura hid her surprise. She was only briefed on two. The two of which she recognized from their case file. The MIA agents that sat on one side of the conference table.

She smiled amiably at their mixed look of surprise, suspicion, curiosity, and caution. She reached for her pocket, but was astonished when eight of the ten agents - the ones foreign to her - reached for theirs too. They all produced a gun pointed at her.

The MIA agents seemed to have been a little put off too, for they turned to look at the eight Americans with mixed expressions.

With her left palm in the air, her fingers spread out, Sakura gently nudged her Interpol ID out of her pocket and held it up with two fingers, the rest of her fingers spread out. "Hello," Sakura greeted breathlessly. "A little jumpy are we?"

The eight lowered their weapons and pocketed their guns.

"I am Interpol." Sakura started introducing herself.

"Yes, we know." The one lady with slight pink ends of her hair smiled slightly. "Your name?" She squinted as she tried to read the ID.

Quietly to herself - though most of the occupants of the room heard it with their sharp ears - Sakura muttered thoughtfully, "Americans, interesting." Speaking up, she introduced herself, "I'm Sakura Avalon. Call me Sakura." As she was flipping it close, Hotaru - or the emotionless woman with wintry lavender eyes to Sakura - held out her hand.

Sakura stared at it for a moment, unsure of what she wanted.

Impatient, Hotaru glared pointedly at the Interpol agent's ID.

She let out a small, "oh." and handed the small wallet over. Sakura watched curiously as Hotaru used her phone's camera to scan the ID. After a long moment, where the other agents were looking at her anxiously, she nodded affirmatively.

Interesting, Sakura took note. Swallowing at the tense silence, she continued, "Your case is in my domain, I am sent here to supervise."

"How did you find out about this?" The scary looking man with sharp scarlet eyes spoke curtly.

"What do you mean?" Sakura dished out the line she has rehearsed many times. "I am interpol, the case is international, no? Some of you are from a different country than the other, no?"

"This is not an official cooperation." The kind man with glasses explained softly.

"We're not supposed to even exist." Koko spoke seriously.

Sakura didn't have to feign confusion. Who _are_ these people?

In her 'limited' Italian English, she responded. "You look very real." When a few of them looked exasperated, she added, "I'm sorry. I was sent here on this case. They said there will be only two agents, but I see you," Sakura glanced at the MIA agents, "have already collaborated with a different country. That is fine. But, who are you?"

"Oh so she doesn't know who we are." Kitsuneme nodded, and all seemed to be right with the team.

Koko then muttered to his colleagues, "Wait, Interpol doesn't know who we are?" And all was no longer right with the team.

"We've collaborated with Interpol before." The emotionless woman stated factually.

Here comes the improvisation, Sakura thought. She smiled, "I was not briefed. I do not believe my supervisors were expecting you."

Mochu, leaning back in his chair with his all too worn baseball cap looked to his team. "makes sense."

Pulling out a chair in the conference table, for Sakura was feeling awkward with her advantage in height, she sat down comfortably. The agents didn't seem to have lost their long stare at her despite the level difference.

There was a long moment of silence. Sakura could tell who the leader was. She noticed that they all glanced at the dark haired man with the piercing red gaze at some point in time. He didn't tear his scrutinizing eyes away from her, only let on a slight incline of the head.

The kind glasses man leaned forward, gesturing to the men and women around him. "The eight of us are part of a project of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States. Basically described as the best criminal investigation team in the world. They call us The A Team."

"A as in..?" Sakura asked cluelessly.

"Just A," Kitsuneme shrugged, "Like A plus, you know, like 'cause we're the best."

At this point, Syaoran scoffed, and Eriol let out a sarcastic grin. "Or America." The Brit spoke up.

"Or Amazing, if we gon' go that far." Mochu retorted.

Eriol looked amused, and Syaoran looked a mixture of confusion and unamused dryness.

Kitsuneme piped up, "Guess I'll start. The name's Kitsuneme, but call me Kits."

"What is your specialty?" Sakura asked curiously.

He frowned, "Investigator?"

"You don't have a specialty?" Sakura thought this was some kind of special task force, hand-picked and put together.

Kitsuneme frowned. "I specialize in catching bad guys?"

"Oh…" Sakura let out unconvinced, causing Syaoran to chuckle quietly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kitsuneme was feeling defensive. "I'm really good at it!"

"I have a specialty!" Koko leaned forward enthusiastically, "I'm Koko! I read minds."

"Really?" Sakura was dearly hoping he really didn't. "What am I thinking right now?"

"'Wow, reading minds is so cool!'" He answered cheerfully.

"Actually, 'he's not really a mind reader, is he?'" Sakura lifted a shoulder, "but close enough."

He pfft-ed, but said no more as Mochu - or baseball cap guy - sat forward. "The name's Mochu. Ex-Air Force. You could say I'm good at bringing you high," he winked, "you feel?"

"Sorry?" Sakura tilted her head innocently, confusion clearly shining out of her eyes. After a moment, recognition lit up in her eyes. "Oh, you have a private jet!"

Eriol was quietly laughing. Syaoran placed a hand on his forehead, shaking his head. He muttered to his partner. "Even I get it."

Hotaru looked at them dryly. "you're British. We speak the same language."

"Not really." Eriol smiled mischievously. "I'm awfully buggered after the jammy wazzock nicked my brill ticket in queue, it was naff, really."

"You're - ticket - What?" Yuu looked to them blankly.

"Exactly." Syaoran sat back smugly.

Sakura looked at the next American in line with the raise of the eyebrows. Taking the cue, the woman with pink highlights spoke up. "I'm Anna, I'm a scientist with a medical background."

The kind man with glasses smiled as he softly introduced himself, "My name is Yuu, I'm a bit of a floater, I help with the cases."

"Oh, he's being modest." The lady next to him with the blue hair waved a hand, "we like to call him our thinker. I'm Nonoko, I'm also a scientist. I specialize in chemistry, bioengineering, and physics. Anna's more of the everything else."

"-To sum it up broadly." Anna inputted.

"Is there a science field you two haven't covered?" Sakura asked, half curiously, half jokingly.

"Rocket science," The emotionless woman stated. "But I cover that." After a quick pause, she introduced herself, "Hotaru. I do technology."

"That's also summed up broadly?"

"Very, _very_ broadly." Anna nodded fiercely.

Sakura shifted her gaze to the last of the eight.

"Natsume." He stated curtly, and said no more.

"Your specialty is silence?"

There were snickers around the room. He was unfazed, retorting, "if yours is curiosity."

Sakura nodded, laughing lightly, "That'll do." The two Brits she knew from her briefing file. She looked at the man with windswept golden brown locks and _beautiful_, with gold specks in his irises, eyes. "Syaoran?" She addressed. He gave a single nod in confirmation.

Sakura turned to the other one. "Eriol?"

"We both dabble in a bit of everything as two of the best MIA agents." He smiled, as he continued in explanation, "The A Team is more of the investigative and detective kind. We're more espionage, protection detail - or whatever it takes, really, to protect the interests of our nation. Double-o-seven sort of thing." Eriol's smile wasn't particularly unnerving or anything, it was just as if he knew something nobody else did.

Sakura noted with interest how none of the A Team gave their last names. She felt as if she's heard the term before, but couldn't quite place where.

"So," She leaned back casually, "is this personal?"

"What?" was the general reaction.

"The case." Sakura explained. "Why are you here?"

"Like I said, curious." Natsume muttered lowly.

Sakura wasn't the only one to have heard him. The rest of his team seemed to have reacted by looking at each other and shutting their mouths.

Koko leaned forward with a teasing grin, "did you know in America, there's this saying, curiosity killed the cat?"

Sakura took that as a 'we're not telling you'. She smiled sheepishly. "Then would it be too curious to ask how far you are with the case?"

"Now _that's_ relevant." Kitsuneme nodded affirmatively.

Mochu offered up the answer. Lifting his shoulders he said, "we got nothin'."

If you have nothing, then why am I here? Sakura thought. There had to be a reason they trained me for six months to infiltrate the MIA agents - these specific ones too.

Sakura looked to the MIA agents with furrowed eyebrows. "You?"

"They know more than us." Eriol smiled that Cheshire cat smile of his again.

She nodded slowly, disbelief clear on her face.

"Why are _you_ on this case?" Syaoran spoke up.

"I was assigned." Sakura responded evenly.

Nobody offered a response.

Feeling that she needed to fill in the silence, Sakura continued in her Italian accent, "I thought we cooperate. You won't tell me anything?"

"We'll tell you as much as you tell us." Hotaru deadpanned.

Sakura spoke aloud her thoughts, "Wow, you are all very, um," She pretended to try to think of a word, "closed off."

"Well the last person who tried to join us-" Kitsuneme chuckled, but stopped when someone shot him a look. He continued, "let's just say it didn't turn out well."

"I see." She nodded, though she really didn't. "I will be here for this case only. No worries."

Suddenly, there was a vibrating noise - loud only due to the silence in the room - causing Sakura to jump a little. She dug out the phone from her pocket.

"Excuse me." She said, smiling at her welcomers. She walked off briskly, speaking into the phone in an official tone, "Agent six-one-two." Tsubasa and Sakura had prearranged their agent numbers to make it seem official.

Tsubasa was straight to the point. "the supervisor has increased the number of reports to be filed biweekly for the next two months." They made sure to speak in code in case her phone was tapped - which was impossible with the way the Alices' lab built it. But then again, nothing is ever completely impossible.

"Thank you," Sakura walked out of earshot. "any particular reason why?"

"That's classified." He responded, and Sakura suppressed a smirk. She refrained from asking whether Persona gave Master meth or cocaine to cause him the control-complex fit.

Tsubasa continued. "Filing your reports is going to be a complex task. I ask that you do it carefully and thoroughly."

Sakura knew what that meant - he's asking her a favor. He's asking her to filter her reports. "What has added to the complexity?"

"The number of agents you are dealing with." He responded nonchalantly. "There's too few."

What?

"You need to file a more detailed report on each." Tsubasa continued. He added, lightheartedly, as if he were saying there were a few clouds in the sky today, "Actually, Agent five-ten-two alerted me to the situation."

Agent five-ten-two is their code for Mikan. Now Sakura was utterly confused.

Tsubasa's not only asking for Sakura to not include the Americans, but also directly defy Master. In a roundabout way, but still a disobedience.

She so desperately wanted to pepper him with questions. Why? Who, really, are these people?

Meanwhile, the agents in the conference room were also having a puzzling conversation.

"There's something off about her."Koko had said the moment she moved out of earshot.

Nine pairs of eyes turned to him. He tried to explain, but couldn't quite find the words.

"We'll see." Hotaru said tactfully.

"Does that mean we're watching her or..?" Even Kitsuneme wasn't sure what Hotaru was getting at.

"We'll see what she does." Hotaru impatiently explained. "She asked if it was personal for us. Maybe it's personal for her too."

Before anyone could respond, they heard her footsteps travel back. They hushed quickly.

"I understand." Sakura responded to her phone call.

"Good luck, Agent six-one-two." Tsubasa bid her farewell. The two Alices hung up at the same time.

After Sakura sat down, the ten agents continued staring at her as if she was a new species.

She smiled amiably, unfazed. "Let's try again." She started, "What is the case that brought us together?"

"Weren't you briefed?" Kitsuneme asked with the same incredulity as he had earlier.

"It was an attack on MIA." She responded, "but I need details to decide what to do next."

Again, Mochu turned to his American counterparts, "Makes sense."

"Mochu, what _doesn't _make sense to you?" Anna rolled her eyes.

He leaned in close to her, whispering, "she really didn't get it? She's not playing hard to get or something?"

Kitsuneme pulled his teammate away from the woman, "Everyone's hard to get for you, Mochu."

"Geez, man," Mochu looked at him in offense, "haven't chilled with you for six months, and this is how you treat me?"

The three non-team members watched the interaction in a mixture of amusement, confusion, and impatience.

"Anyway...An important asset was being moved from Edinburgh," Syaoran started, "we speculated there will be an ambush - but not from the Alices."

"We thought that business was sorted four years ago," at this point, Eriol exchanged a knowing glance with Natsume and Hotaru. The rest of the team seemed to have understood what he meant. He continued, "turns it out it's all bullocks."

Syaoran smoothly moved on before Sakura could ask what his partner had meant. "There were four of us. Chiharu, Takashi, Eriol, and me. They were hit during the ambush..."

_A shadow hovered by the corner of the building. At exactly 11:35 PM, he smoothly sauntered out of the alleyway and into the faintly lit streets of downtown Birmingham. He was wearing only a casual sweater and jeans to fit into the crowd, though his golden-brown hair and dark amber eyes did garner some attention. At exactly 11:37, he passed another corner, his form melting into the shadows._

_At the same time, two more figures walked by the same corner, all disappearing into the same shadows._

"_The package?" Syaoran breathed barely above a whisper as all three marched down the narrow alleyway._

"_Retrieved." Came the simple answer from the only female of the group. She had short Chestnut locks that cupped her face and fierce Hazel eyes. She handed the small brown box to Syaoran, who stuffed it inside his jacket._

_The third MIA agent was a tall man with short, spiky dark brown hair and narrow eyes. He watched out for both agents' back as he brought up the rear._

_When they reached the end of the alleyway, it was exactly 11:41. The three hovered in the shadows just behind the corner as they waited. There was supposed to be a car waiting for them with Eriol behind the wheel. _

_Syaoran checked his watch, standing at the edge of the building. 11:45. Still no car. His eyes roamed the faintly lit area...something seemed off. Takashi glanced up, just missing a shadow move by a balcony. Chiharu glanced down the alleyway they had just come from, it seemed like no one else was there. At 11:47, they spotted the dark grey Sedan speeding down their way. Perhaps Eriol was just a little late -_

_SCREAAAAACH_

_The black SUV had come out of nowhere, blocking Eriol's path. But the three MIA agents didn't see what happened after. They were already occupied with the two all-black figures that seemed to have jumped down from the skies. _

_Syaoran had the package, and seeing both Chiharu's and Takashi's nod at him, he took off. While the pair occupy their enemy, he will have to secure the package. Just as he made it to Eriol's car, he saw in a split second that Eriol had made it outside and was running for cover. The car was a no-go, the entire windshield was shattered by gunfire and the drivers of SUV were not letting up. _

_Syaoran swiftly sprinted down another alleyway, and with a glance back, he knew Eriol was right on his tail. He patted his jacket pocket to silently indicate that he had the package. He met Eriol's understanding nod. They sprinted until the next open road, where Syaoran quickly spotted a car without the car alarm turned on. While Syaoran kept a lookout for witnesses and their attackers, Eriol picked the lock and hotwired the car. As soon as the engine started, Syaoran hopped in and they were off._

"After we took off, we thought we lost them. But once we got back on track without the asset on the way back to headquarters -"

_It was 12:14 when Eriol and Syaoran were driving back on their mission path without the package. They had already entrusted it to the nearest pair of MIA agents who will go through with its final delivery. Syaoran tapped his fingers on his leg impatiently as Eriol kept his eyes moving about the area anxiously. They were looking for signs of Chiharu and Takashi._

_Suddenly there was a distant flash of light. Both MIA agents ducked just in time as their window shattered. The car swerved, but Eriol quickly regained control of the wheel. Eriol sped up considerably, trying to dodge the rain of bullets lodging into the side of their car. Syaoran had a gun already out but the snipers were too high up for him to try to take a shot at them._

"They've got blasted snipers along the whole way." Eriol frowned. His frown quickly turned upside down as he sniggered, "and I say blasted because they were awful."

Sakura refrained from agreeing heartily. Of course, Alices weren't trained to be snipers. It was a waste of time and money - sniper guns were expensive, and training took forever. The skill would be rarely used, too, for snipers weren't too highly valued in the type of field work they do. So the Alices weren't really trying when they attacked. They must've focused more on sending a message or maybe causing a distraction. She asked instead, "So what was the asset?"

"Didn't matter." Syaoran responded sharply, "they weren't after it."

She read into his curt answer. "You don't know."

"I don't question orders." Syaoran scowled, while Eriol glanced at her with a raised brow.

"So what happened to the other two MIA agents?" Anna asked anxiously.

Syaoran glanced at Eriol, who sat up to explain.

_They were going to have to skip some parts of the mission path as Eriol randomly turned into narrow lanes. Syaoran tried again to contact the other two through his earpiece, but to no avail. All he heard was static._

_At 12:29, Eriol and Syaoran had come full circle, back at the corner where the ambush took place. It was oddly quiet there as Eriol slowed down and Syaoran searched desperately for signs of life._

_Suddenly, Syaoran's hand shot out to strike at Eriol's arm when he caught sight of movement by a window. Someone was shaking the curtain hastily at one of the residential window buildings. It had to be the signal. Eriol slowed down to a stop, but only after scolding at Syaoran about using words, not physical abuse._

_The pair waited impatiently, with Syaoran glancing at Eriol intermittently and Eriol shaking his head. They can't go in yet. "Give them five minutes." Eriol muttered._

_At exactly 12:36, a beat up Takashi burst out of the door carrying a barely conscious and bloodied Chiharu. Syaoran was outside of the car in half a second, helping Chiharu in._

"_Bloody pricks." Takashi breathed out heavily as soon as they were all safely inside the car. "Hell, they were good. They beat us up, then ran off after you two. Our earpieces were smashed in the process so the best we could do was break into the nearest flat and try to signal you. Lucky for us, the couple that lived in that flat was out on holiday."_

"_Lucky for them." Eriol repeated agreeably as he absently watched the speedometer reach up to 150 km/h. "Not a bank holiday, I reckon?"_

"_No," Takashi responded evenly as he kept careful watch over Chiharu's condition. "Honeymoon, from the loads of post-wedding presents in their home."_

"_Duck." Syaoran ordered shortly, watching the road ahead of them. "We're back on the mission path and they're coming at us with the bloody sniper guns." The four MIA agents gripped the car seats and kept their head down as Eriol sped the car up to 200 km/h. The snipers were unlikely to hit accurately then._

"_Oh good, our mission has turned into a shooting show." Takashi commented, always the one to make light of the situation._

"They stopped as soon as we detoured for the hospital." Eriol concluded. "We figured they were just situated along our mission route."

Hotaru quickly jumped to the conclusion, "So you have a leak."

"We've got that sorted." Syaoran dismissively, coldly.

The American glanced at each other, the room filling with quiet mumbles.

"Not killed," Eriol heard some of their mumblings, glancing at them incredulously, "good Lord!" Quietly, he commented to his partner. "You need to work on your communication skills."

"How did you know it was the Alices?" Sakura spoke up finally.

"They left a message in Chiharu's coat pocket. The lab's got it now, but I can still show it to you." Eriol looked to Syaoran, who looked down. Without missing a beat, he seemed to have hit a switch.

The glass table was no longer a glass table. Well, technically, it was still composed of glass - but it had transformed into some type of screen.

The guests gasped in wonder and excitement at the technology. The Brits sat back smugly. Of course MIA had the best technology.

Koko and Kitsuneme were especially entertained. They whipped their gazes towards Hotaru, their faces were easily read as, 'why didn't WE get this technology?!'

Hotaru returned them with a dark glare. What did think she was, wonder woman? She can't do everything at once! She is a little miffed she was more focused on personal gadgets rather than technology for the team.

Eriol placed his phone on the table/screen. The technology somehow collected its contents and showed it in the little area of the glass in front of Eriol. He swiped the table, going through its contents, then finally, got what he needed. Dragging a picture apart from the other contents of his phone, Eriol made a spraying motion with his fingers on the table. Instantly, the picture multiplied and was flung to all of the other members. All except Syaoran had a picture land in the area of the glass right in front of them.

As if the glass screen wasn't enough - and the two MIA agents smirked at each other here - Eriol lifted his open palms. The two dimensional picture on the table became three dimensional as the table transformed into a surface for holographic images.

The A Team was amazed, but they couldn't be too distracted when there was real work to be done. They examined the three dimensional picture. Nonoko and Anna especially examined its material contents. Surprisingly, they were quick to catch on to the new technology.

Sakura, on the other hand, scrutinized the pictures for a total of five seconds. It was a piece of paper, cardstock material, and about the size of a business card. There was only one symbol, printed clearly, and centered on the white cardstock. The symbol was simple. It was the outline of a star with only the letter A centered directly inside the star.

"Not much of a message." Sakura commented as she grabbed the holographic picture and dragged it down so it flattened on the glass table and melted into the screen.

"It was enough." Syaoran disagreed. He paused to look at her. "You do know what that is, don't you?"

"The Alices symbol." One that Sakura has on her very own foot as does every Alices member. She let a defensive smile crawl up her face, "yes, I do know a few things."

"Only a few." The Brit spoke in the same tone one would use to say 'the glass is half empty'.

Ignoring him, Sakura fired another question at them. "What happened four years ago?"

"Exactly my point." Syaoran uttered, causing a few of the Americans to chuckle and Sakura to roll her eyes.

"Interpol is just Interclueless." Koko looked at her disapprovingly.

"Yuna Kim won gold for figure skating in the Olympics!" Mochu burst out randomly, "What do you mean 'what happened four years ago?'" He scoffed. "Yuna Kim set the world record for figure skating that's what happened."

Ten eyes turned to Mochu.

"Vancouver, 2010?" Mochu looked around the room aghast. He laughed, shaking his head, "Y'all, come on, stop playing. You know you watched it."

Hesitantly, Yuu spoke up, "Isn't she going again this year? I saw a commercial..."

"Next week, bro," Mochu shook his head at him. "You better be watching."

Sakura wasn't sure how to react to this digression. The Americans sure were entertaining. "You have history with the group, then? The Alices?" Sakura tried to press on.

"Yes." Hotaru firmly confirmed.

Sakura waited, but no explanation came.

Nobody ventured on an elaboration. The eight Americans didn't look ready to open up, and the two British agents only looked to the Americans for guidance.

Suddenly, there was a louding buzzing noise accompanied by Syaoran's immediate reaction. He frowned and emitted an, "Excuse me." He swiftly took his phone out and pressed 'answer'. He turned away from the agents as he answered, "Li." he paused as he listened, "yes sir…..yes sir." His back straightened, causing Eriol to look at him curiously. He continued to respond to the phone. "Yes of course, straightaway."

When he finally hung up, he looked to Eriol first. He spoke seriously, "that was the head of MIA."

"You don't look surprised." Sakura commented impressively.

Syaoran glanced at her, lifting a shoulder and a corner of lips, "sometimes we get personal calls. We _are_ the best." He slipped on his jacket as he nodded to the rest of the agents as a bid of farewell.

Sakura stared after Syaoran's quickly retreating back.

Eriol laughed lightly when he saw her bewildered expression. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

After the British agents' abrupt departure, the Americans lost interest in their new species. Sakura figured that since she was left alone, she supposed she should attempt to do a little of her own research. Taking out her own laptop, she placed it gently on the glass table. She began researching on the Alices, like any Interpol agent would, by looking at case files from the Interpol database. Her mind, however, was somewhere else.

"That was a pretty important phone call, huh?" Koko commented, snapping her out of her heavy thoughts.

He's sharp, Sakura noted, I have to watch out for that one. She smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, the phone call." She admitted. She referred back to her broken English with the thick Italian accent. "not about you. More me. Procedures change again. I need to do more paperwork." She hadn't quite lied - it was all true.

"Paperwork doesn't seem like something that'll bother you so heavily." Yuu piggybacked on Koko's observation.

"No," She shook my head in agreeance, ad-libbing, "it's the kind I have to file. It's, say, more top secret now. This case is getting more interesting." She noted, further establishing her novelty.

Hotaru, who perked up as soon as the conversation started, interjected, "Yes," But by the way she said it, Sakura has a feeling she's talking about something else. There was a frighteningly scrutinizing look in her eyes as she gazed at her like a test subject. "Very interesting."

.

.

.

That evening, Sakura ventured to her new home. It was a cute apartment on Baker Street - she's heard of a famous detective down the same street, but she hasn't had the chance to really spot him.

Opening the door and flicking on the light, she soon found her way to her sofa without further ado. She sighed resignedly. Settling in was not the exhausting part, it was the day in its entirety. Despite having grown up in a criminal organization, Sakura didn't like keeping up appearances and that Italian accent really did wear out her tongue.

She thought back to her "research" on the Alices. Interpol only had five pages on the biggest, most organized criminal organization in the world. Five. Sakura shook her head, they really did know nothing.

Suddenly she heard a barely audible friction noise. She was on high alert.

In a quick blur of movement, the bedroom window was opened and a black shadow landed quickly on her carpet. Sakura didn't wait a beat to act. She was already engaging the intruder in combat - but stopped abruptly when the intruder spoke quickly - "Sakura, wait!"

Sakura quickly meandered around the familiar figure, shutting the window and locking it. Then she turned around with an incredulous face. "Tsubasa? What the hell are you doing here?" she hissed at him. "You know they could be following me or scouting me out - they don't trust me yet."

"I had to," Tsubasa shook his head. Quietly, he spoke barely above a whisper, "The Master reads our correspondence sometimes. He's had some of us followed."

"Who does he hire?" Sakura asked with a scoff. "We're the Elites." The Alices ran on a hierarchy. The level and rank each Alice member received was based on their performance at the Alices' own training school. It was called the Alice Academy. The Alice Academy trained its students from Level One, all the way up to the Elites. Of course, not everyone made it there. Sakura had a right to scoff. The Elites were the best of the best and the top of the top. And they were a tight-knit group. Sort of. They called themselves a family, and they functioned like so.

"Some of the lower ranked-" he shook his head, rolling his eyes. "They're found out quickly. But - I had to talk to you."

"I know what you were saying on the phone." She responded in confusion, assuming that was what he was talking about. "But why? Who are they? Why don't you want Master to know? What if he knows from other sources? I could be-"

"Yeah, he'll find out eventually, but for now, keep it a secret." Tsubasa tried to wave the subject away.

Sakura was not done. "Are you buying them time? Why are you helping the enemy? And what does this have to do with Mikan?"

Tsubasa's eyes were scanning the room and outside the window all the while. "I'm not helping the - this is for Mikan's sake. You weren't there." He ignored Sakura's scowl. Oh, so this is about whatever happened four years ago - that of which Sakura _still_ isn't briefed on. "I'm not here about that."

"Then what?"

"Something's wrong." He looked so serious, so worried. Sakura's mind ran through numerous scenarios.

"This is my first day," She spoke quickly, referring to her actions today. She was pacing anxiously, "I'll convince them of my act, they'll just brush their suspicions away, you know, it's just the newcomer effect-"

"It's not about that!" He interrupted impatiently. She blinked, rearing back. His voice softened. "Sorry, I just - I'm talking about Master. Something's wrong with him." His worry is hugely apparent.

Normally, Sakura wouldn't be worried herself. Tsubasa was a major worry wart, to be honest. He was basically the big brother of their Elites family. But this type of anxiety...

Sakura's heart sank, and dread settled in the pit of her stomach. She voiced her concerns - the very same from two months ago. "If the Master were to lash out…"

"Mikan." Sakura spoke grimly with heavy shoulders.

"Sakura." Tsubasa had said at the same time with a fearful look.

"Wait-what?" Sakura ended up uttering when she heard a name she wasn't expecting.

"You need to watch out." The Elite gripped her shoulder.

"You came all the way here to tell me to watch out," Sakura deadpanned, "after telling me to defy the Master."

"Yes."

"Do you know how far I am from the Master? And will be for the next few months?" Sakura asked.

"About three hundred and twenty two kilometers." Since they were in the UK, they might as well use their metric system. Tsubasa was unfazed. "But that's not far enough away from him. You could be on the other side of the Earth - or even on Mars - and he could still get you."

"But how far will Mikan be from the Master, on a daily basis?"

"Two meters."

"Exactly!" Sakura shrugged his heavy hands from her shoulders. "So you should really be watching out for Mikan."

"I am." Tsubasa stared at her unblinkingly.

"Yeah, I can see that." Sakura nodded dubiously as she moved away to her bathroom. She picked up her toothbrush. "Mikan and I are going to watch each other's backs, you're gonna watch both of our backs, and we're gonna watch everyone's backs." She squeezed a considerable amount of toothpaste on her toothbrush. "Message received. Good talk."

Tsubasa supposed it was a little too early to be so anxious. He switched gears. "Yeah, but you especially. Who knows, you might trip over Lord-knows-what and kill yourself before the Master even gets to."

"I will not." Sakura stomped her foot indignantly.

"Have you seen your training videos?"

"YOU WATCHED THEM?!" Sakura paused in her teeth scrubbing, taking out the toothbrush and yelling through gritted teeth.

"How could I not?" Tsubasa stretched leisurely, "they should put it on Comedy Central."

Mouth full of toothpaste foam and saliva, she growled the only response she could conceive at the moment, "I'm gonna spit on you."

Tsubasa looked to her with a disgusted expression. "And you wonder why you've been single for twenty three years."

"You know why I'm single!" She protested. "I'm an Alice!"

"Excuses, excuses." Tsubasa shook his head. He had a right to tease her on her lack of a love life, mostly because he had been involved with another Elite, who went by the name Misaki, for quite some time.

With nothing else to say, Sakura angrily slammed her bathroom door on the teasing man.

.

.

.

**A/N: **I'm sorry any UK readers, I just put all the British slang in one sentence so that would be awkward if it actually doesn't make sense to you either.

To keep with the spirit of TV Show/Hollywood effect, I also wrote some entertaining press coverages, gag reel, cut scenes, and such after every chapter. (Those who read The A Team should be familiar with the idea) The first one is as follows. Enjoy!

.

.

.

**I hereby disclaim the Olympics, Comedy Central, Gakuen Alice, and Cardcaptor Sakura. (And also the following songs).**

.

.

.

"I'm here on the set of the new show, In Plain Sight, with the director, Ms. Aspirator, and assistant producer, Mr. Inspiration." The journalist stated into her microphone. She turned to gesture to the two figures behind her. "How did you feel when your show premiered at eight PM - local London time - today?"

"We were _so_ happy." The director shook her head with a reminiscent smile. The assistant producer chuckled quietly. "We were jumping up and down, counting down the minutes until 8 o'clock - it was like New Year's Eve all over again."

"Did you watch the first episode again?"

"Of course!" Ms. Aspirator looked at the reporter as if the answer was obvious.

"Now, there were rumors that this show was going to be a musical." The journalist grinned at the director of the new show, In Plain Sight. "Is that true, Ms. Aspirator?"

Reacting immediately, the director dragged a hand down her face, groaning. "Oh no."

Mr. Inspiration, on the other hand, laughed heartily. The interviewer looked between the two in amusement and confusion. "So it was under consideration, then?"

"It's all his fault." The director scowled at Mr. Inspiration.

Grinning cheerfully, the assistant producer began singing, striking a dramatic pose. "_Through chaos as it swirls...It's us against the world...Through chaos as it swirls.." _He pretends to wipe away tears from his eyes, grabbing the reporter's hand, and singing, "_It's us against the world…"_

Aspirator rolled her eyes. "That's _Us Against The World_ from_ Coldplay_."

Inspiration lets go of the interviewer's hand as she giggles. He talked normally, "It would've been perfect in the prelude, don't you think? As Sakura and Mikan discuss the future and pinky promise to watch each other's back. And we could have a reprise at the end as Sakura and Tsubasa discuss the unstable Master again."

"That sounds fantastic." The reporter nodded along.

"Ugh, not you too." The director shakes her head in disappointment. "Even the cast caught on."

Playing along, the reporter dramatically gasped in horror. "No!"

"Yes." the director nodded with a frown.

"_**Marker!" A film set assistant holds the clapperboard in front of the camera, slamming it shut.**_

With her left palm in the air, her fingers spread out, Sakura gently nudged her Interpol ID out of her pocket and held it up with two fingers, the rest of her fingers spread out. "Hello," Sakura greeted breathlessly. "A little jumpy are we?"

The eight lowered their weapons and pocketed their guns.

"I am Interpol." Sakura started introducing herself.

"Yes, we know." The one lady with slight pink ends of her hair smiled slightly. "But who are you?" She squinted as she tried to read the ID.

Koko and Kitsuneme glanced at each other with matching grins. At the same time, both started singing, "_Whoooo are you? Who, who, who, who?"_

Anna bursted out laughing, shoving her face in her hands to muffle her laughter. Natsume was seen rolling his eyes as Hotaru scowled at the pair.

The pair continued to sing. Kitsuneme raised the pitch of his voice as he mimicked the main singer, _"Well, who are you?"_

"_Who are you? Who, who, who, who?"_ Koko chorused. Syaoran glanced amusedly at Sakura, who leaned against the wall behind her laughing.

"_I really wanna know!" _Kitsuneme looked to Sakura, feigning a desperate look on his face.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Came a voice from backstage.

The cast ignored their director as Anna and Nonoko join Koko with chorusing, _"Who are you? Who, who, who, who?"_

"_Tell me, who are you?"_ Kitsuneme scrunched up his face as he sang the high notes.

"_Who are you? Who, who, who, who?"_

"Cut! Oh my gosh, cut!" A voice belonging to the director yelled in vain as the cast turned into an acapella group.

"_'Cause I really wanna know!" _

"_Who are you? Who, who, who, who?_" Chorused Anna, Nonoko, Eriol, Koko, and even a laughing Yuu.

"No, no, no, no!" Came a voice from behind a camera that sounds oddly like the director. "We are _not _singing _Who Are You? _by _The Who_ right now!" The camera whirled around to show backstage as the director began beating the assistant producer on the shoulder with the rolled up script in her hands. "This is all your fault!" She hopped off the director's chair, stomping off and muttering, "I'm changing the script!"


	3. Saklueless

Mikan was caught. It was a rare instance.

With no one on the outside, watching her back; with no one guarding the hallways to make sure no security was coming; with no one managing technology, helping her open the doors electronically, Mikan was caught. It was a high-tech, high-security building. She was supposed to steal a certain vial from one of the most prestigious research centers in London.

Mikan suppressed a shake of her head. No, she was too used to working in a team. These missions are good for me, she tried to convince herself, they're training me to get back to working solo missions.

After retrieving the objective of the mission - and she patted the inside of her black coat - she had barely gotten out of the floor before becoming completely surrounded by security. She'd managed to knock out their communications radio, but not the ten, and by the sound of the footsteps, almost twenty men coming to stop her.

Having no other choice, Mikan slowly raised her palms in surrender, her mind running through the many ways to get out of the situation.

Just then, a shadow jumped out of a door down the hall and quickly rendered the back end of her captors unconscious. Mikan took the distraction as a chance to fight the ones closest to her.

She grabbed the raised gun of the security guard closest to her. She pulled on it so that the man stumbled clumsily closer to her. Mikan swung her elbow across his head, rendering him unconscious.

With the gun from the previous security guard, Mikan used the heavy metal to hit the next man just once in the temple - and he flopped to the ground lifelessly.

By this time, the rest of the men were on alert. Two came from behind as one struggled to wrench the weapon out of Mikan hand. Mikan jerked the weapon forcefully upwards, so that it collided heavily with man's chin. He stumbled backwards. Taking the few seconds break from her front, she twisted one man's grip on her upper arms by twisting her arms. Mikan kicked and elbowed the other man holding her from behind. Feeling the grip on her waist loosen, she whirled around just in time to see the second man get up in an attempt to tackle her. She quickly kneeled, sliding forwards, and ducking out of the man's grasp. He met air, and landed on the ground quite heavily.

Two men were coming at her from both sides. She blocked a heavy punch from one side, gripping tightly his wrist instead. Bracing her feet, Mikan redirected his momentum and swung the man across her front to collide with the man coming from her other side. The two men collapsed to the ground holding their heads dizzily. Using the side of her flat palm, Mikan struck accurately at a spot across one of the men's neck to render him unconscious. The other had tried to sit up, blearily defending himself against her attacks. Mikan hadn't much time - the other men were starting to gang up on her. She stepped on both his arms, causing him to yelp in pain, and went directly for his head. She twisted it at a gruesome angle until she heard a bone crack. He fell lifeless beneath her.

Five down, fifteen to go. Mikan glanced towards the back end of the crowd as she sidekicked a man's abdomen, knocking out his breath. No, her aide had knocked down five, too, at this point. Ten down, ten to go.

Swiftly, she somersaulted out of the way of two guards' grasps. She then backflipped, and in the process, kicking a man down by his head.

When dealing with multiple opponents, the best way to defeat them all is to get them off their feet. Be quicker than they are, Mikan remembered her instructor's voice in her head. Change positions often. Fight randomly against random attackers. Confuse them.

She struck another's knee with her free arm as she cartwheeled forward. Her leg was caught by a man as she tried to land. That was fine - she was still in a sort-of hand stand. She flipped her body in the air, placing both hands on the ground, and successfully twisting her leg slightly out of his grasp. She pulled forward then pushed her whole body weight backwards and into her legs. Her entire body weight landed heavily on the same man, pushing him into the wall with a painful crack of the ribs.

Mikan wasted no time on one man. She jumped on the back of a distracted man, for he was trying to fend off her aide's attacks, wrapped her arms and legs around him, then backflipped with him in tow. She released just in time for him to land painfully on his face with the momentum of the flip weighed on his impact with the ground. Mikan landed on her feet, right next to the aide decked in the customary Alice outfit - all black attire.

Mikan immediately recognized the Alice by her movements.

"Sakura!" She hissed as she blocked a punch and knocked the man against the wall. "You're not supposed to be back here!"

The hooded figure looked up to reveal the familiar face. "You're in trouble!"

"I can fend for myself."

Sakura gave her a look. As if to say, really? She ducked a close hit, angrily shoving a foot on the attacker's chest to knock him down. As another man lunged at her, she stepped on the first man's throat to suffocate him while she dealt with others.

In two minutes, the pair were standing in a hallway littered with unconscious men.

Mikan glanced around again, "Okay, but you're gonna get in trouble with the Master if he knows you came to help me."

Sakura ignored the warning, running alongside Mikan to get out of the building. "What do you have to do with The A Team?"

Mikan nearly tripped over her feet. One could hardly imagine she had knocked ten men unconscious only two minutes prior. "What?" She looked alarmed. "How do you know - nevermind. It doesn't matter, they don't exist."

"That what they said." She responded as they came to a stop in front of an open window.

Mikan glanced at the girl next to her for a long period, a myriad of emotions running through her eyes. Confusion, mostly. She then broke eye contact. Glancing around again, she jumped out of the window onto a rooftop close by. Sakura followed her with ease.

Short of sounding childish, Mikan stood on the roof with crossed arms, facing the other Alice as soon as she landed. "Sakura, go away." The Alice further added. "This is my mission, you know it. I'm not supposed to be helped."

"This mission should've taken a team of Alices, and _you_ know it." Sakura mimicked her friend. Angrily, she growled, "Master sent you by yourself. He's testing your limits."

"Good. I need to get better."

"No. Not good." Sakura disagreed in horror, keeping up with Mikan easily. It was as if they were just jogging side by side, not jumping rooftops. "Testing your limits and training you to get better is not the same thing. One is training to survive, the other results in death!" Sakura sprinted ahead to get in front of her friend. "Mikan, I'm watching your back."

Mkan was forced to stop. "As am I." Gently, she pleaded. "Leave before Master finds out. It's only going to get worse if he knows you helped. Please, he's had people followed."

Refraining a, 'that's what Tsubasa said', Sakura nodded grimly. With a final sigh, and a backwards glance, Sakura jumped off the building and into the shadows.

.

.

.

**In Plain Sight**

_**Aspirator**_

.

.

.

.

Koko was sharp. While normal people looked and saw things - Koko observed and interpreted it. It's great and all, but there was a certain way he did it. He tended to stare. And right now, he was staring at Sakura.

Hotaru rolled her eyes - when she said "we'll see" she hadn't meant blatant staring. "Just go and talk to her." When Koko snapped to her. Hotaru glanced up with an annoyed look.

Koko turned his gaze back to Sakura. "_You_ go."

Hotaru was not having this conversation. "I'm not the one watching her every move." She paused, and so did Koko. Reluctantly, she added, "openly."

Koko watched Sakura turn her gaze out the window for the nth time that afternoon, shaking her head slightly, then turning back to what she was doing.

"Okay fine." Koko stood up. He patted Hotaru on the shoulder, to her chagrin, before ambling off towards their newcomer.

"Got another phone call?" He approached her.

She glanced up at him calmly. Koko frowned at her lack of a reaction. He tended to sneak up on people, but Sakura? Not once. She smiled politely at him. Laced thickly with her Italian accent, Sakura evaded the question, "You're very observant."

"It's what I do."

"I see." She spoke, grinning with a teasing twinkle in her eye.

Koko laughed lightly at her pun. He sat down next to her. He sat with back of the chair in front of him and his arms leaning against it. "So," he questioned, "What are you worried about?"

Her gaze flitted back to her computer casually. He noticed her eye twitch slightly, though the rest of her face was carefully controlled. "A friend of mine." She spoke casually, continuing her work.

Koko glanced briefly at the computer, glimpsing numerous governmental databases on numerous windows on her screen. Apparently, she's looking up all any government has on the Alices. "Is your friend in trouble?" Koko guessed.

She glanced at him, nodding. "I fear she will be."

The answer was simple to Koko. "Then why don't you help her?"

She paused. Sakura looked as if she thought about explaining, then shook her head. "It's complicated."

If she didn't want to talk about it, he didn't want to press her on it. Koko wasn't sure how to continue the conversation from there.

He didn't have to. Sakura asked a question of her own. "Something you said - the A Team is not supposed to exist. What does that mean?"

Koko was surprised. She doesn't know? He recalled, on several occasions, that while he and Kitsuneme had travelled the world, they picked up snippets of themselves on the news. And that was months after the incident.

"Saklueless, Saklueless, Saklueless." Koko chanted his new nickname for her as he shook his head disapprovingly. He hummed softly.

Sakura half pouted, half scowled at the connotation. She turned back to her laptop with a dejected sigh.

Koko wants to help her - he does. Then there's Hotaru and Natsume. He bit his lip. "Have you looked us up?" Koko asked. He's sure she would've found something if she merely googled their name.

"Yes, but…" Sakura pulled up the many tabs on her research. "If you look, it's all the same information, again and again. The same press release from the director of FBI, the same sentences, the same words." She turned to laptop to face him as Koko sat down next to her curiously.

_**published six months ago**_

**Director of FBI, Kazumi Yukihira, released a statement yesterday afternoon:**

"_Citizens of the United States. Residents of our great country. The Federal Bureau of Investigation serves you; we are here to protect your freedom, your liberty, and your life. What we believe was in your best interest is to start a project featuring our best agents. There was indeed a team called The A Team comprised of the best from both FBI and CIA. I say, 'was' because they have been disbanded. Whether or not the rumors are true, they were let go due to their inability to serve our mission." _

"_My sources have confirmed...all eight members of The A Team were killed in an explosive accident. Yes, members of The A Team are dead. No matter what the media said, what people thought of them - they were good people, and great investigators. They will be sorely missed. Thank you."_

Koko pulled away with a puzzled frown. "But what about the scandals?"

"What scandals?" Sakura pulled back her computer. She looked up every newspaper in the world on the The A Team. The same results.

"We had -" Koko was completely confused. He looked up to catch Hotaru's eye. "it was on national news - media scandals - Hotaru -"

The technician swiveled her chair around to face them. "They erased it all. The only trace of us left are those articles of our death."

"Everything?" Koko's jaw dropped. They couldn't have…

Hotaru nodded. She locked gazes with Sakura. The newcomer was halfway there, she might as well explain. "The Alices wanted to destroy us. They burned, exploded, combusted everything we owned -" She gestured to her team, sitting around them. "everything everyone owned."

"They took away our money." Mochu spoke up morosely. "All of it. The bank accounts emptied. Our safes. Even our hiding places. Anna's stash under her grandparent's pear tree in Ohio. Yeah, we went there. It was gone."

"They even took away our reputation." Anna ventured closer to sit at a chair across from Sakura. "That was what Koko was talking about. They set up scandals and they pitched the media - which basically controls public opinion - against us."

"Our closed cases are inaccessible." Kitsuneme added. "Locked under a classification so high, only the director of FBI can open those files. With that, they took away our achievements."

"They wanted to erase your existence." Sakura nodded in understanding. What could they have done to piss Master off so badly? She asked instead, "Then they staged your death?" The last part, she was a little confused on. Why go to all that trouble to destroy everything then let the people themselves live?

"No, they wanted us dead. To the rest of the world, we are dead."

At Sakura's confused expression, Koko rephrased. "We escaped a death sentence."

"Impossible." Short of sounding completely loyal to the criminal organization, Sakura shook her head. "If the Alices wanted something done, it gets done. If they wanted someone dead tomorrow, he was killed yesterday."

"We had a little help." Yuu softly explained, thought it wasn't much of an explanation. After that, the rest of the team went back to their own little worlds. That was as far as they'll humor her.

Sakura wasn't down. "But why? What could you have possibly done to make the Alices want to exact such revenge?"

Yuu shook his head, avoiding eye contact. Again, with his soft voice, he spoke, "another day."

Sakura repressed a sigh. Another day, another 'do you trust me yet?' hoop to jump through.

.

.

.

Syaoran sat crankily in the passenger seat of their MIA-issued vehicle while Eriol drove cheerfully. He was even whistling a tune, strangely like that of the recent double-o-seven movie theme song.

"Another research institute?" Syaoran spoke up gruffly. He did it mostly to prevent his poor ears from suffering anymore due to off-key notes.

"Medical, again."

"Expensive?"

"And high-security." Eriol smoothly turned into the parking lot. "But of course, security is never security enough."

"What's the situation?" Syaoran unbuckled his seatbelt as soon as the car came to a stop.

"After the burglary at the other lab." His partner calmly turned off the engine and unbuckled his own seatbelt. To Syaoran's standards, he seemed to be taking his sweet time. "It's not a burglary, not really. They nicked information. If it was even a group. The first attack was on a research center more devoted to theorizing than experimenting. This," Eriol looked up briefly at the sleek, glass building. "is the lab where they research _and_ produce...important things, most likely."

The pair slammed the car doors close at the same time. Syaoran asked, as they walked towards the building, "What are they after?"

"Anything radioactive, apparently." Eriol responded as the pair walked past heavy steel doors, which oddly lighted up red after they passed through them.

The first thing they saw were a security measures similar to that of an airport. A security officer immediately approached them. "No non-employees allowed entry at this time." He stated gruffly. Syaoran quickly deduced what the light up door was for. He refrained from commenting to Eriol that they should have this kind of technology at the MIA.

The guard was tall and big, with a face as gruff as his speech. Both MIA agents look like twigs compared to the man.

They immediately flashed their MIA badges. "We were called here."

The guard said nothing. He only took their badges, motioned jerkily towards the metal detectors and x-ray machines. As the two agents scanned their few possessions and walked through the metal detector, Syaoran spied the security guard scanning their badges.

"Anyway," Eriol resumed the conversation with Syaoran as if the entire process had not just happened. "We're to guard all the radioactive equipment and experiments."

The objective of the mission finally dawned on Syaoran. "We're babysitting."

"Door-sitting." His partner corrected. "And not for long. They're about to strike soon, or that's what the mission brief said, anyway."

"How much information did they take?"

"Enough to set the scientists in a panic." Eriol shrugged, a light smile setting his lips. "Fear for the ownership of an upcoming Nobel prize."

"Or their research misused for evil purposes." They entered the building, taking the elevator up. Eriol had set the button to the eighth floor. He was the one who actually read the briefing file, anyway.

"I suppose that's a little more serious." The partner shook his head. "It's always good and evil with you, innit?"

Syaoran followed as Eriol stopped in front of a door marked radioactive and safeguarded with multiple keypads, locks, scanners, and security measures.

"Some other agents are already here." Eriol nodded down the hall. "Guarding other doors. I'm to guard this one, and you're to guard the one just a floor above."

Syaoran sent his partner an annoyed look. "_Now_ you tell me." He remarked with a roll of his eyes before ambling off to his post (after an elevator ride and a few wrong turns into the wrong hallways. At least he stumbled upon another MIA agent who set him on the right path).

Eriol was right. No more than ten minutes later, Syaoran was startled into alertness by black shadows crawling across the floor-to-ceiling glass windows. He jogged forwards, looking down. Black figured were scampering down the side of the building like spiders. They entered perhaps the second floor, some the third. They were making their way up.

He kept his position, more alert than ever. He didn't have to wait long, for he heard the near-silent footsteps before he saw the gun. Syaoran ducked and rolled away, narrowly dodging the thin needle. It must've been a sedative. And the man must've only had one bullet, for the black figure sprinted out from his corner.

Syaoran immediately recognized the costume. All black attire with a large coat, large hood, and quirky animal mask. It was an Alice. What do they want with scientific research?

He engaged the man in combat. He was skilled for sure, but Syaoran had fought better. He knew the Alice had to be a lower ranked one. From his experience with the Alices four years previous, the Alices he fought were much more skilled than this. And that's why Syaoran trained much harder the years following.

That's also why Syaoran was able to twist the man's arm back, only five minutes later, ready to detain him.

Suddenly, another figure joined the fight - where had she come from? She attacked the Alice's abdomen with her feet. It had knocked him down, sure, but also out of Syaoran's grip. It was obviously female by her movements and elastic gymnastics integrated in her physical combat. She was dressed in all black, much like the other Alice save for her more sophisticated coat. Oddly enough, she began fighting the other Alice. Syaoran couldn't catch sight of her face, but there was no animal mask.

A third party? Syaoran's mind was starting to wonder what kind of medical research is so important. The three fighters were locked in turmoil.

Syaoran was so annoyed by the interference - he had the Alice in his grasp! - he was ready to throw out the chivalry book. Whoever made up the rule he couldn't punch girls in the face? He grabbed the figure by the shoulders, ready to knock her unconscious -

He met bright emerald eyes with golden wisps of hair cupping her soft face.

"Bloody hell!" Syaoran exclaimed, completely losing his grip on the woman. She was in the process of weaning herself out anyway. Sakura dusted herself off. Syaoran was too busy gaping at her to notice the Alice somersault away from either of them.

.

.

.

_20 Minutes Ago_

Yuu and Hotaru were standing in the break room, hovering over the coffee machine, and sipping their own mugs of the stimulant.

"We can't just go on a standstill." Yuu was frowning deeply, "just because…" He glanced out the door just when the about-to-be-mentioned Interpol agent passed by. She didn't stop, however. She looked rather hassled, as if in a hurry to go somewhere.

Hotaru looked curiously after her. She said nothing, but Koko caught her glancing at her own phone. Her hand was itching to have it in her hands.

Koko joined in to the conversation. "Yeah, we've literally been lazing around for the past few days." He jerked his head at the door, "Natsume's getting impatient."

"And the MIA agents?" Yuu turned to Koko questionably.

Koko shrugged. "They're both busying themselves to pass the time and actually having many cases on their platter. Or, I guess, in their terms, it's missions." He paused. "Speaking of, they just left on one. But they are wondering when we're moving on with the investigation. They're letting us take lead."

"They know we're better at this stage of the process than they are." Hotaru stated factually. "They come in after the investigation."

"She's curious, you know." Koko was referring back to their newcomer. "She's doing research of her own. We leave her alone and do nothing, she's just gonna do her own thing. She's headstrong, in her own kind way. She's nice, and she-"

"I don't care." Hotaru interrupted rudely. She didn't ask for a profile recitation.

Koko raised his palms backing off. "You don't like her, do you?"

"It doesn't matter." Yuu cut in nervously, when he spotted Hotaru's expression darken. "We're stuck with her. We might as well do something. We came all the way over here to go after you-know-who."

"She's not Voldemort." Hotaru spat. "You can say her name."

"Fine, Mikan." Yuu spoke in an uncharacteristically forward tone. "We need to find Mikan and save her -"

"You say that, but how?" Hotaru argued back. "What are we sitting on that we're not using because of the new girl?"

Yuu shut his mouth.

Koko had the audacity to speak up. "We have the ambush on Syaoran and Eriol."

"The case which we have no leads on?" Hotaru whirled to him and Koko almost backed a step. She picked her coffee mug up, beginning to strut off. "We're not at a standstill, Yuu, we're at a dead end."

Again, with uncharacteristic braveness, Yuu spoke up after her. "Then can we stop pretending we have something to hide?"

Hotaru paused. "We _do_ have something to hide." She spoke before leaving the room.

Koko and Yuu only glanced at each other.

.

.

.

"Do I have to introduce myself again?" Sakura asked sheepishly, fixing her clothing.

Syaoran looked after the black shadow with a scowl. He would go after the intruder if he weren't assigned to protect that hallway. He met eyes with the newcomer. "No, I remember you."

Sakura nodded slowly, unsure of how to take the statement. He said it with such special attention, and at the same time, carelessness.

"Didn't expect you here, is all. What are you doing, anyway?" Syaoran asked walking back to his post in front of the door. "You look just like one of them -"

Sakura refrained from looking down on herself. She did dress up in her Alice uniform to aid her fellow criminals, but once she saw Eriol on the floor below, she took up her alias. She might as well play it safe and play along than be found out aiding the Alices.

With his back to the wall, Syaoran peered around the doors on his both sides. He landed his gaze back on her. "-almost killed you."

"I doubt it." Sakura laughed lightly, not failing to refer to her Italian accent. Her comment caused Syaoran's ego to drop a little along with the corner of his lips.

"What are you doing here?" He repeated. He'll argue with her about their combating skills later.

"The vaccine targeted is an international issue." Sakura made up on the spot. She leaned her back on the wall as she stood next to the Brit. "I was in the area, Interpol called me to it."

There were some friction noises coming from above; noises that Syaoran picked up on too. He looked up with narrowed eyes. "Vaccine?" His voice showed traces of discovery. So he wasn't told what exactly he was protecting. "That so?" Syaoran asked absently. Despite the dubious question, he seemed to accept the excuse.

"Now are we going to move on or stand here and listen to noises?" Sakura grinned hopefully, turning to the man beside her.

Syaoran shook his head slightly, staring stiffly at the wall-to-ceiling window in front of him. "I'm to stay here."

The faux Italian let out a surprised, "Oh." She peered around him - or the door he was standing in front of. Syaoran grudgingly moved to reveal a radioactive sign on the said door. The small window gave her a sneak peek into a lab filled with vials of solution and ultraviolet light.

"The MIA and Interpol called to protect scientific research?" She asked curiously as she moved away and Syaoran sidled back in front of the door. "Curious."

"As you are." The MIA agent nodded at her with slight amusement in his eyes.

"Have you heard?" Sakura resumed her former position, leaning against the wall beside him. "Koko's calling me Saklueless now."

"Should be Sakurious, really." He commented. Syaoran looked up at the ceiling again. He swore he was hearing something. "You hear that?"

"I could go check it out." Sakura volunteered. What was she doing, having light conversation with an MIA agent? She went there to help her fellow Alices.

The faux Interpol agent leaned forward to stand up straight. She ventured forward a few steps. Pausing, she whirled around to face him. "I'll go check on it." She restated.

Syaoran nodded lightly. He shrugged, as if to say, you don't have to ask my permission.

"You sure you'll be fine alone?" Sakura teased. "Won't be lonely?"

The man rolled his eyes. "Go. Sod off." Syaoran almost looked as if he was sulking. Sarcastically, he added a last word, "Explore, you curious soul."

"I will, thank you." Sakura refrained the urge to curtsy or skip out the door. She merely sent him a grin and ran off. She didn't see the way he stared after her as her figure minimized in the distance.

As she said she would, she went to check on the sounds from above. Well, not exactly the conventional way. Sakura went to the floor below, where Eriol was. She waited in a room containing electrical control and plumbing systems equipment just two doors down from the door Eriol was protecting.

No more than a minute later, one of the tiles of the tiled ceiling above Sakura gently aside. Down hops Mikan.

"So how's it like in the air ducts? Stuffy?" Sakura asks as soon as the Alice landed gracefully on both feet. "Wouldn't be an air duct if it was, huh?"

Mikan looked surprised, but kept on her feet steadily. For the second time that day, Sakura was asked what she was doing there.

"Came to help you but I met some other Alices on the way here." Sakura explained, letting go of her Italian accent. The mouth movements were really straining her lips. "Level threes by the look of it."

"Yeah, they are." Mikan agreed, she opened the electrical circuitry system and began toying with it.

"How many?" The other Alice asked.

"Ten." Mikan paused, then added. "They're distraction."

"So MIA doesn't know which one you're after." Sakura interpreted, nodding in understanding. "They've got an MIA agent guarding every radioactive door." She chuckled a little. "This is a high-class scientific research institute. You know how many radioactive doors there are?"

"Too many." Mikan spared her friend a smug smile. "One agent won't be enough to defend against me."

"You're going up against Eriol, by the way." Sakura crossed her arms.

"Am I supposed to know who that is?" Mikan responded through muffled lips. With both hands working on the electrical wires, she held onto her phone between her lips.

Sakura sent her a disgusted look. "I was going to offer to hold that for you but -" Mikan freed a hand to hold onto the phone and connect a wire to it. "Nevermind."

"You better go." Mikan looked up, her tinkering with the electrical wires now finished. She gathered herself together. "I'm about to start." She jerked her head to her right, gesturing in the general direction of an unaware MIA agent.

Sakura looked up, considering the route Mikan used to get in that room. She reached up, pushing away the tile to reveal the hole in the ceiling.

"I'll be speeding out the East exit." Mikan added when Sakura easily lifted herself into the ceiling.

Her head reappeared. "Did you take the black Acura?"

"No, Vauxhall Astra."

Sakura's face betrayed disappointment. "It's not even fast." Not compared to the other cars in the Alices' garage.

"Blends in." Mikan lifted one shoulder in compromise.

"'kay, thanks." The pretend-Interpol agent's golden locks are starting to disappear again. "I'll go pretend to be useful."

Meanwhile, Syaoran was starting to think nobody else was coming. It really did seem odd to him that those Alices would so suddenly attack, then disappear. He thought perhaps they were waiting for the right moment, for their next round of attacks.

Suddenly, his chin flicked upwards. A louder friction noise was occurring above him.

A tile in the ceiling was being moved gently. Syaoran slowly took out his gun, edging towards the gap in the ceiling. On second thought, he pocketed the gun. If someone were to jump through that, he'd better have his hands ready for physical combat.

The moment the figure was on its trajectory down, Syaoran tackled - and was surprised to wrap his arms around soft female shoulders. Well, he attempted to. The figure had quickly slipped out of his grip. To avoid landing on his face, he tumbled sideways, recapturing the escaping intruder with his legs. She fell over just as he got on his feet - as he had intended. But he was not expecting her to backflip, then forward-flip, kick him down, and land with her knees on his chest, her arms on his neck. All of that in one swift movement.

Bright emerald eyes in a soft cheerful face was looking at him innocently. "Could've killed me, you say?" Sakura grinned, not forgetting to re-mask her voice with an Italian accent.

Syaoran coughed a little when Sakura let go, readjusting his collar as he got back on his feet. The respectful gaze that lingered on his face had Sakura self-consciously running a hand through her hair and standing up unsteadily. Next time she looked up, he was back in front of the door, staring ahead and out the window. He noted at the back of his head that the sun was setting. The city was darkening. He spoke casually, "Back already?"

Sakura looked up at the hole in the ceiling. She tiptoed, reaching up to slide the tile back in its place. She struggled for a little while - and Syaoran considered helping her. No, that might lead awkward situations.

"I found nothing." Sakura spoke. Syaoran broke out of his thoughts to find her walking back to him. She got the tile back in its place without help after all. "Just that the air ducts are a bit stuffy. Dented."

"You were a little late, then. Must've just missed one." Syaoran responded. He tried to keep the respect out of his voice as he squinted at her. "You went through the air ducts yourself?"

Sakura shrugged with a smug smile.

"Thorough." Syaoran remarked, looking away.

She opened her mouth to answer, but it was swallowed back when the lights went dark. Though Syaoran couldn't quite determine from their position, Sakura knew the entire building was dark. That was what Mikan had wanted. That was what the ten Alices were waiting for.

Syaoran's senses were on high alert. He waited - someone had to come. A soft movement from his left, barely perceptible.

"Sakura." He uttered darkly.

"Sorry." Sakura quickly understood him despite the few amount of words he used. She wasn't actually apologetic, having just motioned for a coming Alice to get away quickly. Thank goodness Level Threes were already trained to adjust their eyes quickly to the dark.

Suddenly, Syaoran stiffened. He was listening to something. "When?" He was talking quietly to his earpiece. He marched to the window, looking down at the parking lot. "Not yet - I don't see anyone. You alright?" He paused as he walked towards a stairwell. He seemed to have forgotten Sakura completely, but she kept up with him anyway. "Then you can drive yourself." He continued the conversation. He glanced at Sakura briefly when he ran down the stairs. The other end must have said something worth scoffing at, for Syaoran also rolled his eyes. "Oh, pity yourself." He paused again. "Yes, she's with me."

"The fastest way out is the East exit - the parking lot's there too." Sakura yelled after Syaoran. He had grabbed the stairway railing and swiftly hopped over it to land solidly on the other side. He kept on that way, half running down stairs and half jumping over railings. Sakura surprisingly kept up with graceful ease.

"Where's your car?" Syaoran asked as they ran out of the ground floor, not at all bothered by the ten stories of stairs they just ran down.

"The black Acura by the edge there -" Sakura pointed out clearly the Interpol car she'd stolen just a few weeks prior.

Syaoran ran towards it, but abruptly changed directions when he spotted the dark figure sprinting across the parking lot. Sakura pivoted, unsure of what to do. Shortly thereafter, he ran back towards her. "She's getting in a car."

"She?" Sakura asked. Personally, she knew the figure was Mikan, but for Syaoran to figure out it was female by the way she ran...he was sharp too.

Syaoran didn't answer and Sakura sprinted back to her car. She made the mistake of running towards the left side of the car.

"You're not driving?" Syaoran nearly stopped his running, he was so surprised.

"I'm not familiar with the roads." Sakura lied on the spot. "Italian, remember?"

"If you say so." Seeing that the black figure was already getting in her car, Syaoran went along.

"I'm driving Sakura's car." He told his partner as he walked around to the right side of the car. After a quick moment, he responded grumpily, "Shut it." Syaoran opened the car door and settled down.

"What'd he say?" Sakura asked curiously as she got in the passenger seat.

While turning on the engine, and quickly backing out of the spot, Syaoran muttered, "'she'll wish she didn't let you'."

Sakura laughed slightly, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "But why?"

Syaoran didn't respond, backing out quickly and turning the car straight towards the exit. It wasn't bad, if you don't consider the car directly behind him that he nearly hit.

"I see it -" Sakura pointed out before he could ask, extending her arm. "there." The red car was merging into the main road.

"Ah," Syaoran swerved just in time to barely scratch another car as he sped out of the parking spot after the car. Sakura sat back with wide eyes. "Smart choice. A red Vauxhall Astra like every other car in London. Got the license plate memorized?"

"Yes." Sakura firmly responded. She sat forward anxiously, however. "Syaoran - you're -" she sputtered, grimacing.

His eyes never left the targeted car. "What?"

"Would you pick a lane?" Sakura bit her lip.

Syaoran spared a glance down on the road. He was driving in the center of two lanes. "Oh. Right." He muttered.

The next few minutes were quiet as Syaoran weaned in and out of lanes - occasionally scratching other cars' paint and ignoring mean yells after him. He kept his eyes on the prize. Sakura, meanwhile, was trying to hide her tight grip on her seat.

"Where's she going?" Syaoran muttered as they spotted the car suddenly veer left when it came to a fork in the road. He tried to follow her, but was blocked by angry Brits in mini coopers wagging fists at him. He was forced to go straight.

Syaoran opened Sakura's window - like that was somehow supposed to make him see clearer - squinting out to look at the other car between the foliage. Why did London have such narrow roads separated by islands?

Sakura patted her pockets, finally producing a phone.

"What are you doing?" He asked, and Sakura looked up. He wasn't looking at her, however, still keeping his eyes on the target.

She wasn't about to tell him she's calling Tsubasa to say sorry about the car. "Calling Interpol to track the license -" Sakura's eyes widened when she saw headlights coming at them. "CAR!"

There was a loud honk, Syaoran jerked the car to the left. The car coming at them had braked but Syaoran kept going, evading the collision in a crescent shaped swerve.

Unfortunately, during that sudden swerve, Sakura had been thrown to her left. She didn't have a rubber grip on her phone, unfortunately, causing it to fly out of her hands. She watched, aghast, as it crashed on the dark grey pavement. A car drove right over it.

She whirled back forwards just in time to see a red light pass overhead. "You - you -" Apparently Sakura didn't know how to breathe normally. "That was a red - and-" She saw him turn his head again to try to see the red car again. "Eyes on the road when you're driving, please!" She exclaimed. Muttering, she complained, "I just lost my phone."

"Then _you_ keep an eye on the target!" Syaoran grumpily turned back forwards.

She tried but the road was splitting. "We've lost her, Syaoran." Sakura threw up her hands. "_and _my phone!"

Syaoran slowed down, and Sakura swears he's sulking. Quietly, he mumbled. "Fine, we're going back to base."

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe _now_ he'll keep an eye on the road.

"Where are you going?" Sakura asked in alarm. From what she remembered, the MIA building was to the left. Going straight would get them further away from it. She rolled up the window because the wind was really getting to her.

"I told you, back to base." He was starting to sound incredibly irate with her.

Sakura barely had time to fix her windblown hair before she was thrown against the door again. "What-you-I-" She glanced up on the road they were on - he was supposed to turn left not right! "YOU DIDN'T EVEN SIGNAL!"

"I didn't have time-"

"And why not?! How could you not know you were about to turn?!"

"If you'll let me explain," Syaoran spared her an annoyed glare. At the same time, she leaped forward and grabbed a hold of the wheel to turn it far right. They had just avoided another collision. Syaoran regained control of the wheel as Sakura sat back in her seat with a loud huff. Rather than being grateful, he seemed even more irked. "_and _let me drive - you did give me control of wheel, did you not?"

"That was before I knew you were a horrible driver!"

"I am not!" He gritted out - while three cars around him honked.

"Really," Sakura sarcastically turned towards him, gesturing behind her, "and what do you call all that mess?"

Syaoran didn't even bother to look. "They were inconveniently in the way."

"Oh, in the way." Sakura repeats incredulously and sarcastically. "Just get us back to base."

"What am I, your chauffeur?" The Brit responded at the same time, jerking a turn to his left.

If not for her seatbelt, Sakura would've crashed into the infuriating driver. "Why are you -" She wanted to pull her hair out. "NO - you should've gone right!"

"There was a car in the way!" Syaoran took on hand off the wheel to gesture out the window and Sakura almost screamed.

"Both hands on the wheel!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" But he did put his hand back on the wheel.

Syaoran turned left again, but at least Sakura was hanging onto the door handle this time.

"Where the bloody hell do you think you're going?!" Sakura exclaims. "Just brilliant. You got us going down a dead end road."

Suddenly, Syaoran relaxed. "And how would a foreigner, an Italian as you claim to be, know that?" He glanced at her with a winning smirk. When she didn't reply, he added, "Did you know, throughout this entire argument, you were slowly slipping into a British accent?"

The woman in the passenger seat had about the same expression as a deer caught in headlights. Sakura bit her lip. The Italian accent was really an extra stress on her tongue.

.

.

.

Back in the conference room, the A Team were mostly lounging about. Yuu and Koko flipping through physical files on the table. Hotaru tinkering with some wires and metal things as usual. Natsume doing whatever he does. Anna and Nonoko were sitting next to Hotaru testing her newest inventions. Kitsuneme and Mochu...well, they _were_ being productive.

Rika popped her head in. She scanned the room as a few members of the team lifted their heads, then went back to what they were doing. Finally, she spoke up, her voice resonating throughout the room, "Where're my boys?"

At least half the team looked up and their gaze stayed on her this time.

"I mean -" Rika stood to her full height. "Agents. My agents."

"They went on a mission." Yuu was the one who answered.

"Not back yet?" the woman's brows frowned for her. "Odd."

The American didn't comment.

"And Ms. Avalon?" Rika blinked at the blank stares. Perhaps they know her by her first name. "Sakura?"

The attentive half of the team looked around the room and at each other. Few shrugged. Again, Yuu spoke up, "I don't know." He answered honestly. "She left a while ago, I think." He actually hadn't noticed. By looking around the room, he knew that none of them had noticed.

Now, Hotaru was interested. She stopped tinkering, looking up around the room as if Sakura will appear just because she was looking.

"Alright." Rika clicked her tongue. "Ring me when the boys or Sakura get here, hey?"

"Sure." Koko nodded inattentively, as did the rest of the team while they get back to their own activities.

"Where is she, indeed." Hotaru muttered. She dropped her tinkering, pulling over her laptop and typing on it.

Nonoko peered over her shoulder. "You put a tracking device on her?" She asked in concern. "Is that...legal?"

"You hang out with Yuu too much." Hotaru sent her fellow team member a betrayed glare.

"So where is she?" Anna craned her neck to look at the screen. She only saw a map of the world.

"She disabled it." Hotaru sounded almost disappointed, if she weren't so impressed.

"Where did you put it?" Koko asked curiously.

"Somewhere I believed she wouldn't find it."

"She's good." Natsume spoke up for the first time in a while. He garnered looks, that of which he ignored.

"Yes." Hotaru stared at the computer as if it was holding back secrets from her. "She is." She closed the window. "Almost too good."

.

.

.

"Blimey, Syaoran." Eriol met up with the pair at one of the topmost floors of the MIA. "you caused nearly half of the accidents in London today."

Syaoran shrugs, saying nothing. Sakura only pouted, crossing her arms.

"What's the matter with you?" He asked, glancing between the pair.

"We had a row." Sakura was the one who spoke up.

"Oh -" Eriol nodded, then he backed a step, looking Sakura over again. "Ohhh. Yes, well that's how Syaoran weeds out covers. It's hard to keep up pretenses when you're angry, he thinks. So you _are_ British." Sakura grudgingly nodded. "We thought so, didn't we, Syaoran?"

"_I_ did." He was smirking triumphantly.

"Then who are you, really?" Eriol inquired amiably.

Sakura opened her mouth, breathing in deeply to launch into her explanation, but she was interrupted.

"There you are!" Came a new voice in the conversation. The trio turned to see Rika approach them happily. Eriol stored the question in the back of his mind - Syaoran will fill him in later, anyway.

"Boys, I've got two more for you." Rika called from her end of the hall. She was coming from the direction of the conference room, where the rest of the team were gathered. She met Syaoran first. Sakura was standing next to him, and Eriol behind the pair. "If you want it." Rika balances the two briefing files between her two fingers. She shrugs. "You're likely to go looking for one anyway."

"Hm." Syaoran takes the files, handing one behind him to Eriol. "You know me too well, Rika." He walks on past Rika, opening the file in his hands.

"Sakura." Rika held up a rectangular package and all three turn to look at her. Syaoran looks up from the open folder, half-turned towards the secretary. Eriol, with the second folder tucked under his arm, watches curiously. Sakura, with uncertain hands, takes the package. "Came in the mail, for you."

"Thank you." Sakura smiles at the secretary. She rips it open curiously as the other two watch.

"Mhm." Rika grins, turning to get back to that to-do list on her desk - Rika pauses. She pivots back to face the Interpol agent. "You're British now?"

The box revealed a new phone. Sakura tilted her head as she looked at it. "Ah, yes." She answered distractedly.

Rika tapped her fingers against her thigh. "Well then." She blinks, processing the information. Rika sends the newly unveiled Brit a grin before turning away. "Fantastic." She muttered to herself as she moves further and further away from the group, "Nobody tells me anything anymore."

Eriol stepped forward to stand beside Sakura. "It's the same model as your old one." He noted perceptively. "What happened to your old one?"

"Syaoran happened." Sakura turns on the phone, activating it.

Eriol raised a brow at his partner. His partner dismissively whirled, marching forwards - so his back was to them - as he spoke, "She threw it out the window."

"Flew out of my hand." Sakura corrected. "After _you_ nearly got us killed!"

"I warned you about his driving, didn't I?" Eriol chuckled.

"Should've listened to you."

"It was only about an hour ago - the phone throwing." Syaoran glanced back at Sakura, eyes landing first on her disagreeing face then on the box in her hand. "They're quick about it."

Now leading the trio, Syaoran was the first to get to the door. He pressed his hand on the handle. Rather than twisting it and pushing the door open, he held onto the handle, leaning his back on the door.

Sakura and Eriol stopped before him. His eyes were on Sakura only. "Keep it a secret."

Sakura blinks up at him questionably, then glances at Eriol.

"He's a bit competitive." Eriol always has to do the explaining. "He wants to know when they'll figure it out."

She looks back up at the lighter-haired Brit. They share a long moment, gazes locked. A slow grin works its way up Eriol's face as he watched.

Sakura breaks away first. "Okay." She slips back into her Italian facade.

Syaoran nods once before turning and opening the door.

"He's back!" Koko exclaimed, throwing his hands up. "Rika was just looking for you -" His face changed with he spotted Sakura walking in right next to the Brit. "Oh. Well hello, Saklever. Rika was looking for you too." Eriol sauntered in after them. "And you too!"

The American were full of surprises. She leaves for three hours and when she comes back, everyone's looking at her with respect. "When did I become clever?"

Koko grinned. "It's a secret."

Not like there's already enough secrets kept from Sakura. She rolled her eyes.

Yuu looked up, watching the three curiously. "Did you guys run into each other at the hallway?"

"Something like that." Syaoran answered vaguely before sitting down comfortably.

"We did run into Rika in the hallway." Eriol piped cheerfully before he too sat down on Syaoran other side, since Sakura occupied the space on his partner's left.

"We miss anything?"

"Nope. Still on square one!" Koko exclaimed in inappropriate cheerfulness and enthusiasm. His gaze was diverted when he spotted a shadow hover outside the opaque glass door.

The agents with their backs to the door turned curiously. It was not every day you see such an marvelled expression on the American's face.

It was a woman with the pale, perfect skin, long black hair curling at the tips, and bangs framing her round face. She had wide, amethyst orbs a shade darker than Hotaru's. She was wearing a long, white lab coat.

Her eyes zeroed in on Eriol, who immediately stood up at her presence.

"Hullo there, heard you were back." She greeted in her light, British voice. She approached Eriol, letting go of the door. Eriol's hand instinctively reached out to her too. She continued talking to him, despite the stares she was gaining, "I couldn't wait - I made you something new for your missions. Won't you come with me to try it on?"

"I would," Eriol responded, speaking only to her, "but-"

"Now don't blame it on your poor partner," She sternly interrupted, tilting her head to her left to point to the said person. "I'd ask him already but you know this sort of thing is not his cup of tea." In a lower tone, she stated, "and I don't have his measurements memorized."

"Or I'd worry." Eriol retorted quickly. "I was just saying," he shook his head cheerfully, "my friends here are curious as to who you are. Why don't you introduce yourself?"

"Oh," She followed his gaze to glance at the rest of the team looking curiously at her. "Now you've done it." The lady mumbled shyly to the Brit.

He grinned proudly, "Me? No, you caught their attention the moment you walked in, strutting like a model."

She sent him a look, something between a glare and an uncertain glance.

Eriol's grin softened to an understanding smile. "Fine, I'll do it." He looked to the rest of us, "this is Tomoyo Daidouji. She makes our fun 'spy gadgets' as the American movies call it."

A chorus of "Nice to meet you"s followed.

Kitsuneme popped up out of his seat, enthused. "I don't even have to be Koko to know she's also your girlfriend, am I right or am I right?" He added a wiggle of his eyebrows for emphasis.

Tomoyo glanced at Eriol, who gave her an amused look.

Koko spied with his sharp eyes a beautiful diamond on her slender fingers, while Eriol's hands held nothing. "No," he spoke up, grinning cheekily at his fellow American. "one, you can never be me, and two, they're actually engaged."

Kitsuneme swung his arm in defeat, muttering under his breath, "damn."

"When's the wedding?" Sakura spoke up delightedly.

"We haven't decided." Tomoyo smiled softly, while Eriol lifted her hand and placed it in his palm. She glanced at him, cracking a slight laugh as she took her hand out of his palm and slapped his arm with it. "Oh, stop admiring it, silly."

"What?" Eriol rubbed his shoulder theatrically, "Can't I be proud of something I spent so long searching for?"

"Oh, you mean two seconds?" Syaoran cut in with a roll of his eyes, "He spotted it during a mission. Went back and bought it a week later."

Tomoyo gasped, turning to Eriol, "You told me you looked all over London for the perfect ring!"

"Well - I was queuing for hours." Eriol obviously made up on the spot. His sheepish smile and hopeful eyes were adorable.

"Hours." Tomoyo repeated dubiously. She glimpsed at Syaoran. "Is that so?"

Syaoran shrugged carelessly, not wanting any more part of the conversation.

"Yeah, yeah, hours and hours." He herded his fiance towards the door, sending his traitorous partner a glare before turning back to her, "so about that new thing you made…"

.

.

.

That night, Hotaru walks about her condo, preparing for bed. She went about it half-heartedly for a thought lingered in her mind. With a sigh, she figured she'll just get it over with. She sat at her desk, opening her laptop.

After a moment's hesitation, she clicked on the application for video chatting. Her finger settled gently on the mouse as it hovered over a name. She seemed to think better of it, scrolling away - but came back. She clicked on it with finally.

She was calling Ruka Nogi.

After three impatient rings, the two connected. The video showed Ruka flopping into his chair with heavy breaths.

Hotaru didn't bother with greetings."Why are you panting...like a dog?"

Ruka smiles breathlessly. "I kind of-" he breathed in deeply. "I ran."

Without saying anything, Hotaru's minuscule facial movements communicated her train of thoughts.

Ruka sheepishly refused to elaborate. Instead he asked, "I'm guessing you guys are in London now? How's Natsume?"

"Same. A little better." After a pause, she added, "determined."

Somehow, Ruka understood.

"It's been busy for the New York police department." Neither were surprised Hotaru was the one who started up this conversation.

"You've been checking." Ruka noted with a faint smile. "yeah, crime rate has been unusually high lately."

"Mostly property crimes." Hotaru stated factually.

"So it's the same old for a New York city detective." Ruka shrugged, which was what he was. "Mostly the same." That was all they usually spoke on the subject. This time, Ruka continued, "I've been working on something you might be interested in. I would show you if you were..." Ruka didn't continue, shaking his head. He veered back on track. "It's a cyber activist group called Everyone. The slogan is that 'they are Everywhere'. With a capital E." He paused. When Hotaru showed no particular interest, he changed the subject. "Anyway, I caught up with Sumire."

"Does she know?" Hotaru didn't need to elaborate for Ruka to understand.

He knew she was talking about their existence. Ruka hesitated. "yes." More confidently, he continued. "Yes, I think so. Koko has been contacting her-" Quickly, he shook his head at Hotaru's alarmed expression. "no, not directly. Actually, she's not really sure it's him. They're not labeled - the messages." When Hotaru impatiently raised her brow at him, Ruka smiled humorously. "They're flowers. It could be a secret admirer for all we know."

"What type?" her curiosity was peaked.

"That's the thing. They're different each time." Ruka let out a chuckle. "Right after Director Yukihira pronounced you all dead, she got a bouquet of green roses."

"Green roses mean vitality." It was amusing how quickly Hotaru dished out the fact.

"I know." He grinned. "It was the only bouquet that came with a card." Ruka paused dramatically to receive a 'are you kidding' glare from his counterpart. "It said, 'sorry for your loss'."

There was a long pause.

Hotaru wasn't speechless - she was just trying to put together a sentence from the jumble of frustration, exasperation, amusement in her brain. She muttered out loud, "What the fuck."

Ruka laughed at her reaction, wiping tears from his oh-so-blue eyes. "That was basically my reaction."

"He was so obvious."

"'Koko was the only person who could cheekily put together something so ironic and stupid and still make it fucking beautiful and hand it to a girl.' Her words, not mine." Ruka stated, then whispered scandalously, "Sumire said she cried when she saw it. In her office. With the windows shut and everything. She also told me if I told anyone else she was going to butcher me, starting from the waist down, in my sleep."

At that, Hotaru cracked a minute smile. "If she can get past your hundred dollar door."

"You're still salty about that? I told you I'd pay you back eventually. And I only asked if you could fix my door lock, not invent a new system of door-locking." Ruka sighed. "When did you ever charge people for your inventions?"

"You're kidding." Hotaru gave him a 'I thought you knew me better than that' look. "How did you think I went from a runaway to working for the FBI?"

"Okay, but I'm a friend." Ruka conceded.

"Not when it comes to money."

"Is it tiring?" He sat forward with a light, joking grin.

The inventor blinked. "What?"

"Just digging all the time?" His grin widened as her glare darkened. "You know, for gold."

"You're only this brave because you're behind a screen."

"You're the one who called me first." Ruka was never going to let that go.

They sat there for a moment. Ruka was grinning playfully at Hotaru. Hotaru was sending him a deadpan glare. It described their relationship perfectly.

Hotaru had to ruin the moment with her negativity. "This is not going to last." She warned him.

Ruka was infallible. "That's what you said six months ago. We're still talking, aren't we?" His smile was absolutely stunning.

Hotaru didn't offer up a response. She only clicked off.

For Ruka, her silence was enough.

.

.

.

**A/N:** And you'll find out next chapter what lie about her identity Sakura made up for Syaoran! :)

I may have been re-watching my favorite British TV shows to try to get Syaoran and Eriol speaking British-like, so yeah.

.

.

.

**I hereby disclaim my Harry Potter reference.**

.

.

.

The reporter sat next to the camera, out of the shot as the camera focuses on Sakura. Sakura sits on a chair, casually dressed, in front of an _In Plain Sight_ promotional poster.

"So, Sakura." The interviewer starts, "In the first episode, when you're talking to Tsubasa and all, you reveal that your native tongue is an American accent, right?"

"Mhm." Sakura nods professionally. "Just like Tsubasa and Mikan."

"Okay, and your cover is an Italian accent. Then in the second episode, we find out that under your Italian accent, you have this British accent."

"yup." Sakura responds cheerfully, giggling a little. "It's kind of confusing, but you'll figure out later why I have so many accents and such."

"What about you? Does it get confusing for you?" The interviewer asks. "Do you have a voice trainer of some sort?"

"Uh, yes, if you count Ms. Aspirator as my voice trainer." At the interviewer's face, Sakura smiles. "Yeah, I'm surprised she has time for me, too. She's a producer, screenwriter, director...honestly." In reference to the first question, Sakura answered with a laugh, "and yes, it does get confusing." She turns as the promotional poster next to her turns into a screen. "Let me show you some of our bloopers…"

"_**Marker!" A film set assistant holds the clapperboard in front of the camera, slamming it shut.**_

Koko wants to help her - he does. Then there's Hotaru and Natsume. He bit his lip. "Have you looked us up?" Koko asked. He's sure she would've found something if she merely googled their name.

"Yes, but…" Sakura pulled up the many tabs on her research. "If you look, it's all the same information, again and again." She slips into a British accent, "The same press release from the director of FBI, the same sentences..." She turned to laptop to face him as Koko sat down next to her curiously. "Even the same bloody words!"

Koko couldn't keep a serious expression because he knew she was screwing up. He tried to deliver his line but what came out was laughter.

"What - Oh," Sakura shook her head. Sticking out her tongue, she goes through a vocal warm up. "Blegh! Okay, sorry, back up."

Koko stands back up to his original position.

"Action!" The director calls, off camera.

Koko wants to help her - he does. Then there's Hotaru and Natsume. He bit his lip. "Have you looked us up?" Koko asked.

"Yes, but…" Sakura pulled up the many tabs on her research. "If you look, it's all the same information, again and again. The same press release from the director of FBI, the same sentences, even the same words." She turned to laptop to face Koko, who was staring at her blankly with an open mouth.

Seeing his face, Sakura laughed, clapping at hand over her mouth.

Stroking his imaginary moustache, Koko recovered soon enough to respond in a thick Italian accent, "I've no idea what you are saying."

"Lay it on a little thinner," the director spoke up, off camera, "okay?"

"_**Marker!" A film set assistant holds the clapperboard in front of the camera, slamming it shut.**_

The faux Italian let out a surprised, "Oh." She peered around him - or the door he was standing in front of. Syaoran grudgingly moved to reveal a radioactive sign on the said door. The small window gave her a sneak peek into a lab filled with vials of solution and ultraviolet light.

"The MIA and Interpol called to protect scientific research?" She asked curiously as she moved away and Syaoran sidled back in front of the door. In a British accent, she stated lightly. "Curious."

"As you are." The MIA agent nodded at her. Syaoran played cool as he continued, "You're also British, right?"

Sakura slapped her forehead. "Ugh, not again."

Syaoran laughed at her, quickly dodging when Sakura tries to slap him on the shoulder.

The director is heard sighing. "It's too early, Sakura, still too early."


	4. Nothing is Ever What It Seems

The director sat in his neatly furnished office, tapping his soft, wrinkled fingers on the mahogany desk. As of the moment, he was contemplating the words of his two best MIA agents. An Interpol agent had been showing up on some of their missions, claiming international domain.

Curious, he thought, very curious. Having made his decision, he picked up the phone to called Interpol. He used a direct line. After brief greeting and introductions - ignoring the sputter from the other side that came after he introduced his title - he asked the main question. Did Interpol send someone to London recently?

"Ah, yes, recently, I believe so." The representative of Interpol answered haltingly. "Yes, a woman was transferred to the MIA headquarters. She was escorted personally, sir. A source told us she was your consultant." To himself, the man muttered, "Since when did the MIA hire a consultant, I wonder?"

They had obviously been duped. It was a smart play, either side convinced the conman belonged to the other. "Since when, indeed." The director sat back. Yes, it was a smart play - until the two agencies started talking to each other.

"Is something wrong?" the Interpol representative asked, confused by the man's silence.

Should he involve the Interpol in this situation? "No," He answered softly, "could you send over your file on my, uh, consultant?" The director's mind was quickly turning. To infiltrate the MIA, there had to be a strong motive. A strong motive that he will need to weed out from the person with a smart play of his own.

There was a pause. "Uh, we don't have a file, sir." As if to quickly defend the efficiency of their organization, the man added, "She was picked up and deported - I mean, escorted - quickly to London. There was, uh, there was no time for an investigation. It was all done within two hours."

"Is that including the flight from Switzerland?" the director let on a slight smile.

"Sir? Uh, I mean, three-three hours." The man was starting to sound very nervous. "Including the flight sir."

"You at least have some transit paperwork, don't you?" The MIA director asked seriously, pushing up his rectangular glasses. They had to have _something_ for him to work with.

"I could certainly-" The man on the other line, sitting in his Switzerland office was cut off suddenly by the dial tone. "Director?" He looked at his phone as if it had three heads. He shook his head, muttering to himself. He placed the phone down. Perhaps the director will call back.

In Britain, meanwhile, the director was having the same difficulty. In fact, he was thinking the same thing. The director of MIA placed the phone down gently and waited. Perhaps the other line will call back.

No more than a minute later his personal phone rang. With furrowed eyebrows, he took out his personal phone from his coat pocket. Now that wasn't the line he was expecting. The unknown number was not what he was expecting either.

Cautiously, the man picked up, not saying a word.

"I heard you're looking in places you shouldn't be." Came the dark, chilling voice. It had been a while, but the director of the MIA immediately recognized the voice.

"Persona." He greeted unenthusiastically. "Just when I was starting to forget the sound of your voice."

He heard the other line fume. But the Alice could not be strayed from his point. "I ask for your silence."

"Regarding?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." Persona growled angrily.

The MIA director whirled his chair around, looking outside his window. "You know it's rude to interrupt conversations?"

"You'll give me what I want." The Alice was so confident.

The director of MIA sighed wearily. Suddenly, all fifty years of his life were weighing on his shoulders. "You've taken everything from me, Persona. Now my speech? What is your leverage this time?"

"Your daughter." With a loud _click_, Persona hung up immediately afterwards. He left the director of MIA breathing unevenly and gripping the arms of his chair for support. Thank goodness he was already sitting.

.

.

.

**In Plain Sight**

_**Aspirator**_

.

.

.

.

Syaoran breathed a deep sigh, running a hand through his messy auburn hair, fixing his black tie, and then stuffing his hands into his tuxedo pants pockets. Eriol, meanwhile, adjusted his bowtie. He smiled amiably as the pair made their way into a fancy hotel's ballroom.

"I hate parties." The lighter haired agent grumbled sulkily. "Especially when they're this early. Eight in the morning? Seriously?"

"But you get to make up a name, isn't that fun?" Eriol smiled, nodding politely at internationally acclaimed doctors, scientists, and researchers. They both scanned the room for any suspicious characters.

Eriol's eyes stopped at one particular woman. She was wearing a light green gown with a low dip, showing her back, and she was entertaining an Indian couple, both physicians. "She looks familiar." Eriol pointed out and Syaoran furrowed his eyebrows. "You recognize her?"

"I don't memorize the back of people's heads." His partner responded grumpily.

"Then let's approach her." The two men marched towards the woman, Syaoran eyeing her bare back and familiar golden locks. "Hello." Eriol greeted brightly.

The woman whirled around, her soft golden curls bouncing along with her. She froze mid-turn, however, as if remembering she was still talking to someone. She turned her back to the agents once again. "Sorry," she muttered to the physicians. They smiled kindly, saying their final few words before ambling off.

She whirled back, her emerald irises landing first on Eriol then Syaoran. "Uh, hi."

"Sakura." Syaoran blurted, as soon as his golden irises zeroed in on her bright orbs.

"Syaoran." She responded just as quickly. Catching herself, she pointed to her name tag, "I'm actually Alicia Kettering, here. A neuroscientist."

There was a quick pause while Sakura looked the men up and down. "You look handsome." She complimented lightly. Sakura shifted her gaze at a grinning Eriol. "And you, Eriol, you look dashing."

"Thank you." Eriol managed to say before his partner regained her attention.

"You too." Syaoran uttered, short of stumbling over his own words.

Sakura smiled up at Syaoran, "hm?"

"I mean - not handsome - not that you're not - I mean you are essentially gorgeous -." Syaoran cleared his throat. To cover up his stumbling, he asked smoothly, "Now how did I know you will be here?"

"You didn't." Eriol quietly muttered, earning a split-second strike to the abdomen from his partner.

"You're in a room full of doctors and scientists from around the world?" Sakura asked with a knowing smile and a hopeful gaze.

Syaoran nodded, keeping a strong link with her via eye contact. "And you happen to specialize in that around-the-world sort of thing."

"And don't forget curiosity." Sakura really had a sense of humor about the ongoing tension between her and the rest of the team. The pair stared at each other, keeping the eye contact strong even when the conversation was obviously dying.

Feeling very out of place, Eriol spoke up suddenly, "I'm Dr. Felix Gezuar, if you're curious."

The pair snapped out of it just as suddenly: Syaoran looking down on the ground gesturing to his partner as if to introduce him, and Sakura turning her gaze to Eriol with a polite smile.

"Oh, I see." Sakura lifted her glass of champagne as a gesture to his nametag. Politely, she commented, "Gezuar, yeah. Very creative."

Just when the trio was about to fall into an awkward silence, they were saved by the announcer lightly tapping on the microphone. The crowd turned to the stage. He was a man of average height wearing a velvet black suit, without a tie. The first few buttons of his clean white button up was undone. Though he looked very young, he had an oddly styled light grey hair that was slicked back for the occasion. He smiled at the crowd, notecard in hand. "Morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome, to our unconventional formal function. It feels odd to say this but, breakfast - not dinner - is on the table to your right. Your entertainment tonight is Alicia Parekeh, professional pianist, the London School of the Arts String Quartet, bringing you contemporary twists on classical music, and last but not least, Reo Mouri, a worldwide sensation." He paused. It seemed he was making the last part up because he stuffed his notecard in his pocket. "In reverse order." He grinned. "Thank you and enjoy!"

Throughout the announcements, Sakura bit her lip to remind herself to control her facial expressions. These were definitely not the Alices she was expecting to encounter.

When the highly educated occupants of the room began re-starting up their conversations, the trio turned back to each other.

"I've got to go," Sakura started, not quite a conversation. "Something I need to check with the security and that sort of thing." She lied, very apologetically, to her friends. "I'll be back soon." She grinned, turning and strutting off. She made sure to make a roundabout path across the room, greeting various doctors and scientists, and of course, actually make conversation with security, before sneaking backstage.

The two MIA agents had stopped watching her back by the time she struck up conversation with the first security personnel.

"Charming, aren't you just?" Eriol commented as they shifted their gaze over the room's occupants, checking for anything suspicious. "I think the stuttering made quite an impression."

"Shut it." Syaoran scowled.

"Now, now, you're not going to pick up any highly intelligent women with that dark frown on your face." Eriol teased. "Oh, wait, you've already picked one, haven't you?"

"I said, shut it." His partner hissed before stalking off to the breakfast table.

Meanwhile, Sakura was sneaking backstage. She was, of course, not as inconspicuous as she liked, but then again, the Interpol badge in her pocket should give her free pass to anything.

Reo Mouri was a perfectionist. Well, with his appearance anyway. He sat in front of the mirror, fixing his dark hair for umpteenth time that hour. Nobody understood why, for he was going for the sexy messy look. He caught sight of the Interpol agent tiptoeing in, from his mirror. "Oh my God, it's her."

His featured singer, with light blonde locks to her shoulders and bold red lipstick, rolled her light blue eyes. Her name was Luna Koizumi. She turned around, catching sight of the same woman. "Here we go."

"It's the Princess!" He couldn't hold in his exclamation as soon as the woman approached. Luna looked entirely embarrassed. Reo was not, even bowing low to Sakura. "It's always an honor, Princess."

"Yeah, yelling out her codename really loud, that makes an impression." Luna snarkily remarked.

Sakura smiled tightly, also looking embarrassed as she shifted her gaze around the room. None of the other performers were paying attention. She sucked in her breath, trying not to grimace. "Yeah, hi." Sakura lowered her voice, as Reo leaned in eagerly and Luna stepped forward curiously. "I'm undercover right now, so I can't guarantee being able to help you. If we cross paths, you're gonna have to treat me like the enemy. You got it?"

"Got it, definitely." Reo nodded enthusiastically.

"Okay." Sakura nodded. With another nod, one that signifies greeting, she stated, "Luna."

"Sakura." The woman greeted back, lifting her chin loftily.

"Good luck." Sakura muttered before turning around and almost running into the announcer. "Hayate!" She greeted quietly. "Never took you for an announcer."

"Me neither." The man fixed his velvet blazer. "I kind of like it, actually." He paused. "Not as much as combating though. Moving as fast as the wind, now _that's_ fun."

As Sakura walked off, Hayate walked forwards. He pointed to the pair, "you're up." Closer, he muttered, "you're first so you have free reign for the rest of the evening. Signal me when you're ready to get our mission started." With his back to the normal people, he rubbed his palms together, grinning enthusiastically. "I'm excited."

Both Reo and Luna patted his back exactly once at the same time as they passed by him, heading to the stage. No more than thirty seconds later, they were ready, Reo standing front and center holding the microphone. Luna standing off centered and to his left. He scanned the crowd, stopping short, then covering the microphone with his hand, he whispered to Luna, "who's the guy with her?"

Luna started to say, "Who-" but stopped her gaze shifting to the crowd. Sakura was standing next to a tall, handsome auburn haired man. They were exchanging swift dialogue and looking happy. Sakura was laughing at his words and he was letting out a small chuckle every so often. The dark haired individual standing next to the-guy-next-to-Sakura is looking both amused and uncomfortable at the same time, pushing up his glasses every so often. Luna shook her head. "You're hopeless."

"Does he look familiar-"

"Can we get started-"

"Do you think he's part of that undercover thing -"

"It's probably not what it looks like, Reo."

"If it looks like something then it has to be something." Reo brought a hand to his head, close to pulling at his hair. "Something's happening!"

Luna looked uncomfortably at the audience, who was looking uncomfortably at the singer. Luna sighed. She grabbed the sensational singer by the shoulders, turning him towards her, and shook him. Then she slapped him on the cheek, causing the entire room to gasp.

Reo shook his head. Clearing his throat. "Thank you. I needed that." He turned back towards the audience. He grinned, "Just a warm up routine." he laughed awkwardly loudly, then cleared his throat again. "Okay, let's get started." He cleared his throat for the third time, stepping back.

He stepped forward just as he brought the microphone to his lips and sang. With his first few words, he already pulled in the audience, like some sort of enchantment.

.

.

.

Back at the MIA Headquarters, the A Team were keeping themselves busy. Mostly.

Natsume was a secretive man. As familiar as he is with his team, he's not much of a talker. Still, sometimes, Koko wished he was more open. Though he knows Natsume's just that type to keep things to himself, to bear his own burdens, Koko feels like that is what friends are for. Friends are for sharing burdens and concerns with. But no, Natsume keeps it to himself.

Chin in hand, Koko was 'watching' the scarlet-eyed individual. The same man sitting at the far corner of the large table toying with an orange stone necklace hung delicately around his neck. Yuu, sitting beside Koko, and without even looking up, quietly muttered, "you're staring."

"Oh." Koko quickly looked away, "thanks."

Yuu shook his head. "It's a bad habit," he lightly reprimanded. "You don't even blink."

"But a blink makes all the difference." Koko argued back. "You blink and you miss an eye twitch, you miss the one telltale sign that the suspect is annoyed or angry."

Yuu looked up, glancing anxiously at Natsume. "I don't think he's annoyed or angry."

"It's Natsume." Koko quietly uttered back, "I'm 99% sure he has control over every muscle in the body. Even the ones I can't pronounce."

Yuu took another quick look at the aforementioned man. Just as quickly, he came to the conclusion, "He misses her."

"Well, duh. He's looking at an orange necklace. Who else do you know has a name whose definition is orange?" Koko rolled his eyes as if that fact was as obvious as an elephant in a desert, "but what is it?"

"What is what?" Yuu didn't look up this time. They say third time's the charm, and he didn't want to be caught by Natsume.

"That necklace he's wearing."

Yuu leaned closer to Koko, whispering, "I don't think he wants to talk about it."

"He can hear you." Hotaru bluntly stated, ceaselessly typing on her new laptop exactly halfway between the pair and Natsume. She lifted her head just barely to make eye contact with a guilty Yuu and a not so guilty Koko. "Congratulations, you get the title of Captain Obvious and Sergeant Loud."

Yuu shamefully looked down. Completely opposite, Koko leaned forward, both arms now placed on the glass table. He looked directly at Natsume. "So I know you know what I want to know. Thing is will you let me know what I want to know that you know?"

Natsume didn't miss a beat. "No."

"It's not a stone." Hotaru casually revealed, not at all aware that she had just dropped a bombshell.

Yuu, Natsume, and Koko are now all staring at her. She paid no attention as she continued furiously typing on her keyboard.

"It looks like a stone." Koko finally spoke up to get her attention.

"Yes, but he's held it up to the light plenty of times." Hotaru still hadn't looked up. "He knows there's something weird about it." When she finally lifted her head, she looked at Natsume. "It's not a stone."

After a moment of contemplation, Natsume reached under his shirt to take it out again. He twisted it between his index and thumb. The sunlight passed through the stone, lighting up its interiors in whorls of orange and minuscule strands of -

"There's something in it!" Koko jumped up, excited at his revolution.

After one more swipe at the keyboard, Hotaru closed the lid of her laptop and set it aside. She finally focused her full attention on the discussion. "We need Nonoko's mineral expertise."

Koko immediately looked to his right. "Mochu, go get -" but the chair next to him was empty. He whipped back to Yuu. "Where'd he go?"

"Went to hang out with Anna at the lab."

Koko glanced around the room. "And where's Kits?"

"Went to hang out with Anna." Yuu repeated patiently.

The psychologist major looked back at a blank faced Yuu. "Then why aren't you hanging out with Nonoko?"

Yuu furrowed his eyebrows. Where is the connection in the conversation here? "She's exploring the MIA's arsenal of microscopes."

"So Kitsuneme's competing with Mochu for Anna," Koko finally connected his train of thoughts. "But you're competing with microscopes." He shook his head sadly. "Look at you, not even trying."

Yuu gave the man an unamused look before standing up and marching off. "I'm going to go get Nonoko."

When the door closed, Hotaru snickered quietly and Natsume smirked. The technician commented, "way to offend the most patient person in the team."

Koko grinned.

No more than five minutes later, Yuu returned with Nonoko. The rest of the team had tagged along out of curiously.

Natsume - very reluctantly - handed his necklace off to her, and she looked at it with a fascinated curiosity. Without taking her eyes off it, she was handed a microscope. Apparently, Yuu had the right mind to grab one on his way back.

After a few tense beats of her examination, she finally spoke up. "It's not natural." She turned towards the team, her voice no longer muffled, "you're right, there is something inside it. It's incredible - tiny - just itty bitty clumps of wire. "

"-like a mini version of a microchip." Hotaru interrupted.

"Not that they're already small enough." Anna interjected.

"yeah," Nonoko nodded, turning back to the microscope. Her voice was muffled again, "the stone itself, though, definitely not natural. It's made like some kind of crystal and silicon - it's incredible…" She trailed off as she adjusted the microscope some more.

"And?" Hotaru asked impatiently, "how do we get the microchip?"

She twisted the stone around slowly. "There is a slit - can I-" She looked around as if to look for something, but Anna was already handing her some surgical tools.

"No." Natsume burst out firmly as soon as he figured out what she was about to do.

The room froze. Yuu spoke up placatingly, "I don't think it's a good idea to take the liberty of experimenting with Natsume's belongings."

Nonoko slowly, sadly handed the surgical tools back to Anna. She looked at Hotaru, Natsume, then the stone. She held it now, as if not knowing what to do with it.

With the most perfect timing, Sakura walked in the room. She scanned the room, assessing the situation quickly. "Found some evidence?"

"Where were you?" Koko nosily asked.

"A mission." Sakura answered dismissively. She ambled closer, and surprisingly, a few of the team gave way for her to take a look at the object. "What's that?"

"A microchip." Kitsuneme helpfully answered.

At the same time, Nonoko scientifically replied, "We're not sure." She took out of the microscope stand and held it up in plain sight.

It was a good thing Koko doesn't blink when he observes because he would've missed Sakura's split-second expression freezing in shock. Her face changed quickly, however, to an open look. "Interesting."

"What do you know about this?" Koko asked quickly. He wasn't going to let go of that split-second expression.

"I might've come across one of those on an Interpol mission." She stepped closer, and Nonoko dumbly handed it over. "Whose is this?"

"Natsume's. Do you know how to open…" Koko's question faded when Sakura had put the stone between two index fingers and two thumbs. She then squeezed, twisted, and out popped the mini microchip. She rested the opened _thing_ in her palm, holding it out to the gaping team with a quaint smile.

Hotaru narrowed her cold eyes suspiciously at her, but gingerly took the mini microchip out.

"Curious." Sakura had muttered lightly to herself as Natsume took the stone back from her palm. "it's yours?"

Natsume nodded once, watching her cautiously.

"Where did you get it from?" Yuu asked the question Sakura was about to ask.

Hotaru turned to grab her equipment, tinkering with the small set of wires connected to the circuit board. She hooked up a few wires to it with mini pliers.

Natsume begrudgingly uttered, "Mikan."

Sakura's response was barely half a second later. "How did you take that from an Alice?!" She almost slapped her forehead then - she was so shocked she just blurted it out!

Koko frowned. "How did you know she was an Alice?"

"How do you know her?" Yuu asked at the same time.

"I didn't _take_ it." Natsume growled.

There was a pause before Sakura responded in a sheepish voice, "I - Interpol may have brushed with the sort too many a time." She spoke vaguely.

"But how do you know her?" Kitsuneme pursued.

"She hasn't been an Alice for the past four years." Anna added in explanation.

"What? You think I've been in the Interpol business for only four years?" Sakura scoffed. Yeah, Hotaru thought, she's being vague.

"You said you didn't know anything about the Alices." Mochu stated in disbelief.

"I don't," she defended, "We only figured out her identity. What's with the protectiveness, anyway? She good to you?"

Hotaru hooked the wires up to her laptop, watching the mini microchip with one eye as she tried to electronically gain access to it.

No one answered Sakura. Hotaru muttered a few curses as she switched back and forth from typing on the keyboard and tweaking with the wires.

"What? What?" Anna asked curiously as she hovered over my shoulder.

Hotaru sent her a glare that backed her off, but answered, "there's something in it."

"Obviously," Natsume scoffed, his voice further away, "why else would it be a microchip?"

Surprisingly, Hotaru went to Sakura for help here. "Do you know how to open this part?"

She shrugged helplessly, "the last stone had a key in it."

The technician scowled, turning back to my work.

Suddenly, there was noise from the hallway, diverting the team's attention. The team quickly inferred that their British friends are about to join the party.

Sakura brightened. "Ah, they're done with their paperwork."

"What?" Koko spoke aloud what all the Americans were thinking.

Unmoved, Sakura sat down cheerfully. "I came up here first because they had paperwork to do." Apparently that didn't help explain anything. "You should sit down, they'll explain."

_._

_._

_._

"So let me get this straight." Yuu sat up, placing his palms down on the glass conference table as the other ten members of the team sit calmly around him. "You two," he pointed to the two genuine British agents, "went on an MIA mission, and found her there." He then pointed to Sakura.

Sakura looked at the accusing finger then at the accusee. Cheesing as if caught eating cookies from cookie jar, she admitted, "Yes." She looked to the two men sitting beside her. She kept up her Italian facade. "That's correct."

"And why?" Anna asked.

"Why was I there?" Sakura clarified. At the American's encouraging nod, she explained, "I'm Interpol. The mission involved international diplomats. Interpol needed someone to be there, and I was in the area."

"Interpol," Yuu repeated. "Right, okay, go on."

"On two missions," Syaoran held up his fingers lazily to visualize his point, "we've stumbled upon who we believe may be Alices, both international scandals in which Sakura lended a hand."

"You think?" Hotaru questioned, calling out his skepticism.

"I can't say confidently." Syaoran sat back. "Their dress and tactics, certainly, scream Alices, but I can't be sure. Not unless I see the tattoo on their ankle." After a pause, he revealed, "also, they were almost too easy to defeat."

"That's what we're trying to figure out now." Sakura added. "We're bringing this to you so you can analyze their movements and help us determine if this is a path worth pursuing."

"We can't say much about the first mission." Eriol explained. "Other than a nasty bump on the head," and he winced reminiscently, "and nicked formulas from a high-class research institute, nothing's wrong."

"How can you say that?" Nonoko gasped, a scientist herself, "a scientists hard work has been stolen."

"That's just the thing," Eriol shook his head, "nobody's claimed it. Nobody knows what it is that was stolen."

"Then how did you know something was taken?" Kitsuneme asked.

"We were there." Syaoran explained impatiently, as if they were going in circles in their conversation. "Someone obviously went to a lot of trouble for something in a radioactive room Eriol was guarding."

"Must be highly secretive research."

"Or someone was silenced," Mochu mimed a finger gun to his head, making the sound of a gun shot with his lips, "boom."

"What was the play?" Natsume asked professionally.

So Eriol and Syaoran explained the ten men attacks, plus the one woman that seemingly came out of nowhere and knocked out Eriol. The one woman that actually got what she came for. The other ten men seemed to be diversion of some sort.

"They wore all-black, favored hand to hand combat…" Eriol trailed off with an indecisive shrug, concluding the explanation openly.

"But that could be anyone." Sakura spoke up. The team then all turned to Hotaru and Natsume, who they apparently designated as the Alices experts.

There was a long pause as Hotaru and Natsume contemplated the play. Hotaru looked up with a decisive glint in her eye.

It was Natsume who spoke up, "it's too elaborate. No. Too messy, too much going on to be the Alices. They like quiet, minimal, nobody knows until it's gone."

"Not how I experienced them." Mochu mumbled. "Blowing up errything errwhere."

"Special case." Natsue dismissed him quickly. "In these kinds of target operations, the Alices are very consistent."

"But they had an MIA agent posted at every radioactive door. You can't steal from one of them without an elaborate plan." Kitsuneme reasoned dubiously. "You take out one and the other MIA agents come running to stop you."

Sakura hummed disagreeably. "I think the mistake the MIA made, no offense," she turned to her right side, continuing after Syaoran's indifferent shrug, "was posting only one person in front of every door. That's weak security. One sniper, and the one guard in front of the door they wanted is shot down. He didn't have a chance to communicate and look, a free door." The other ten nodded, understanding quite clearly despite her thick Italian mask. "Or, scenario two, lead the guard away somehow, maybe with a little smoke down the hall. Intruder's in and out before the guard comes back, and when he does come back, he has no idea it's gone."

"Quiet, minimal, nobody knows until it's gone." Yuu nodded. "So that's how you think the Alices would've done it?"

"Eleven man team seems a little bit excessive to me too." Sakura molded her face into one of confession. As long as she guide the team away from the Alices' operations, she had done her job.

"So we agree it's not the Alices." Hotaru redirected the conversation impatiently, "And the second mission?"

Eriol sat up. "We were at a party full of internationally renowned scientific diplomats."

"So who's the target?" Hotaru cut in.

The Brit hesitated. "Well, essentially it was a Dr. Shizune Yamanouchi."

"Essentially?"

"It was the same play with our first mission." Syaoran explained. "Two performers were walking around nicking little things here and there. A pearl necklace here, a ring there, a wallet, a phone, it goes on. We were off dealing with them, then caught sight of the announcer trying to usher Dr. Yamanouchi out of the ballroom."

"We caught him, of course. We got security and Sakura deal with all three of them while we take Dr. Yamanouchi somewhere safe." Eriol smiled victoriously. "Now we just need to talk to her."

"Wait -" Kitsuneme held up a hand, sitting up. "You got them? So why don't you question them? The three people you said were orchestrating this whole thing."

Sakura looked uncomfortable and the two MIA agents glanced at her almost pityingly.

"Lost them." She mumbled.

"You _lost_ them." Natsume repeated dubiously, with a sort of condescending coldness in his voice that made her grimace.

"Nothing much I can do when knocked out cold, okay?" She lashed out in self-defense.

"She got a bit of a," Syaoran at least attempted to help out with her situation, pointing to his right temple. "you know. I'm surprised she could walk straight, really, just look at it." He squinted at her bruise as she rubbed it self-consciously.

Yeah, that. Sakura remembered the silent argument she had with the three Alices to get them to at least knock her unconscious to make their escape look viable.

"So you have doctor." Hotaru was back on track, less interested now that they've digressed from the subject of Sakura's faults. "Aren't you going to talk to her? What are you two doing here?" Hotaru rose her impatient brows.

"MIA's processing - some things take time." Syaoran responded defensively. "We're still a government agency. Keep your pants on, would you?"

The American glanced at each other amusedly, save for Hotaru. She was not at all amused.

"It'll be done in a trifle." Eriol assured. "We've only just arrived. We thought we'd update you some."

"Thanks." Yuu muttered politely.

Just at the right moment, Rika poked her head in. "Boys, you're up." She called with a smile and a jerk of the head before disappearing.

"See?" Eriol gestured to the now closed door with a cheerful grin. He followed happily after Syaoran.

Sakura watched them apprehensively. She seemed to be contemplating an action. Abruptly, she stood up, going after the Brits with a hasty, "I need to talk to them.."

Koko watched her every movement with interest until she disappeared behind the opaque glass door. He quickly turned to Hotaru. "Figured her out yet?"

.

.

.

Sakura speed walked to catch up with the men, stopping them in the middle of the hallway. "Hey - wait!"

Syaoran glanced back at her. He paused, half-turned. "You wanna join in?"

"No." She responded earnestly, stopping in front of the pair. "I think this is where we talk boundaries?"

"Really?" Syaoran frowned. "Right now?"

"It's a good time as any."

Syaoran glanced at his partner. Eriol shrugged, speaking to Sakura, "You can have ten minutes with the doctor."

"You're joking." She crossed her arms.

Syaoran glanced at the other end of the hall, the direction in which they were heading, then back at her. He shifted his feet. "That's a sweet deal." He told her.

Sakura shook her head, "No, Interpol wants her." After a pause, she added, "at headquarters."

Both men's jaws dropped.

"You shipping her off to Switzerland?" Syaoran exclaimed incredulously. "She's a victim not a criminal, there's no need for deportation."

"Flying." Sakura corrected, "and all the same. It's a safety issue."

"Witness protection." Eriol half stated, half asked.

"Of that sort," Sakura nodded professionally, now just going along with the conversation. "Yeah."

Syaoran apparently couldn't believe it. "You really want the doctor?"

"Yes." Sakura answered firmly. "Interpol does." She corrected.

The two MIA agents glanced at each other, then her.

Five minutes later, the two different agencies parted ways, with Sakura grinning victoriously. She immediately dialed Tsubasa, walking far away from the conference room or the men's earshot.

When he picked up, she immediately asked, "you heard about Dr. Yamanouchi?"

"Oh yes, I heard." He responded with an angry undertone. "Master's pissed. Two Elites and one Level Eight being outwitted by two MIA agents?" Tsubasa raged. He was an Elite himself, he knew what training they had gone through. "Unbelievable! And you don't want to know what their punishment is."

Sakura fiddled with the end of her shirt nervously. "I sort of told them to leave when they had the chance -"

"In danger of being caught too?!"

"No," Sakura defended quickly, looking around then hissing quietly, "well, only Reo - but better they lose the doctor and save all three than have the doctor and lose one Alice." Because she knew that with an Alice in custody, the Master's going to order an assassination on one of their own.

"Oh, _him_, the Level Eight." Static came over the line, indicating that Tsubasa had sighed. Sakura faintly picked up a, "why am I not surprised?" She didn't comment on it of course, because she knew they will end up discussing the man who just couldn't pass the Level Nine test however much he tried. And they're talking about a very high two digit number here.

"Look," Sakura steered them back to the subject she called him about, "I negotiated and MIA's letting Interpol have Dr. Yamanouchi. So, put together a team pretending to be Interpol, fake an ambush in the middle of the journey and bam, done. We got her."

"Yeah, thanks for taking care of it." Tsubasa spoke dryly, "One problem, MIA only agreed to send her _after_ they talk to her?"

Sakura breathed in uncomfortably, reluctantly admitting, "yeah."

"That can't happen."

"I know."

There was a moment of silence. Tsubasa finally responded, "Alright, fine, we're sending in interference." He hung up.

Sakura walked back to the door feeling like she failed an assignment. Her heightened sense of hearing picked up parts of the A Team's conversation as she neared the conference room, not at all improving her mood.

"She's not Italian." Koko was saying, feeling confident in his contribution. He _is_ the psychology major and has taken several courses in linguistics.

Of course they would talk about her the moment she left.

"Yes, obviously." Hotaru dismissed him impatiently. "She's not registered at all anywhere."

"A ghost." Natsume interpreted.

"No, not really." She disagreed. "Her Interpol ID, yeah, but I can't reach her background records or anything."

"Can't reach?!" Kitsuneme exclaimed dramatically "Is that possible for the great Imai?!"

"If I hack Interpol's highest clearance level, we're about to be a problem for them." Hotaru scowled. "We can't be anyone's problem - we're dead."

Sakura decided it was time to show her presence."You could've just asked."

The team jumped, whipping to the door to find Sakura calmly sauntering in. Natsume looked understandably annoyed but also with a hint of admiration. How had she come up so quietly without him sensing or hearing her?

"Fine, answer this," Hotaru crossed her arms. "Who are you really?"

"You don't believe me."

"Not the Italian accent. Nor the Interpol agent bullshit."

"Good, the Italian accent is really wearing my tongue out." She finally responded in a British accent.

"Who are you?" Hotaru repeated, asking a question completely different from her name.

"You should believe the Interpol agent bullshit." She remained unaffected by Hotaru's animosity.

With conviction in her voice, the American responded curtly, "I don't."

Sakura hummed, as if to say, _you will. _Still standing, she stuck out her hand to Hotaru. Officially, she stated, "Sakura, from the private sector, pleased to be of your acquaintance."

"Dropped the last name?" Hotaru made no move to meet the expectant hand. "Interpol doesn't have a private sector."

"That's what they want you to think." Sakura responds, lifting her outstretched hand in a reminder that it was still there.

"That explains the high Interpol clearance level you were talking about." Anna commented to Hotaru.

"At least I have a first name." Sakura belatedly answered the technician. With a sigh, she dropped her hand. "We used to operate by numbers. We still do, for certain situations."

"Such as being on the phone?" Koko asked, remembering clearly her first phone call.

"Exactly." Sakura smiled. She looked around the room, seeing apprehensive, confused, indecisive, and torn faces. She'll earn their trust, she thought, she will get there.

.

.

.

"She's scared." Eriol evaluated. They were standing outside the interrogation room watching Dr. Yamanouchi fiddle with her hands and run it through her hair multiple times. "Maybe we should've asked Koko to come on down here."

"We're putting her in an interrogation room, of course she's a little confused." Syaoran responded. "It doesn't concern them yet." He wisely commented on the American situation.

"You can't talk to her without a lawyer." A new voice entered the conversation. She held a briefcase in one hand, a few slips of paper and her ID in another.

"We're not interrogating her." Syaoran turned to the new voice. "She's a victim, not a criminal - why is everyone - anyway, who are you?"

"You're holding her without a plausible reason. That's false imprisonment, a federal crime." She didn't argue, she only stated. She was soft spoken, her head slightly bowed, even as she talked to them. She stuck out her hand with the credentials and ID. "Nobara Ibaragi."

Being the file handler of the pair, Eriol took the ID and credentials. He glanced over it quickly, looking up at the woman. "Oxford." Eriol remarked. "Impressive."

"Thank you." She gingerly retrieved her credentials.

Syaoran watched her sharply as Eriol smiled a forced one and gestured that she may walk in the door.

"Who called a lawyer?" Syaoran blurted as soon as she closed it behind her.

"Did you spy a phone on her? The doctor?" Eriol returned with a forehead frown of his own. "They would've patted her down when they processed her - don't you think?"

Syaoran only frowned in answer. He leaned back, crossing his arms. "Say she did call her. You're a lawyer, you get a call. You come running in a hurry -"

"You wouldn't grab your resume on a whim." Eriol followed his train of thought. "Or a suitcase."

"That sort of thing you'd have to look for." Syaoran stood up straight, letting his arms by his side. "What's in her suitcase?"

Eriol turned quickly, attempting to open the door only to find it locked. He didn't have to glance at his partner to know Syaoran was already taking a few steps back. Eriol cleared out of the way just in time for Syaoran to kick down the door.

Seems like they were just in time, for they met wide, frightful blue eyes of Dr. Shizune Yamanouchi, a venomous needlepoint only millimeters from her neck.

.

.

.

Syaoran marched in the conference room authoritatively, Eriol followed after him with a gentler stride.

"We caught someone." Syaoran announced the moment the door closed behind his partner.

The Americans straightened, attention devoted to him.

"A Nobara Ibaragi, came and tried to sedate the doctor with a needle of some sort." Eriol explained.

"How?" Hotaru asked.

"Said she was a lawyer." Syaoran sat down in the chair, deciding that the discussion may take a while. "We let her in to talk to her client, thought something was off about it, and walked in on her about to silence our doctor."

"So what about Dr. Yamanouchi?" Nonoko spoke up.

"We handed her off to Interpol." Syaoran glanced at Sakura as he said this, and she nodded knowingly in response. "She's not safe here, apparently."

The Americans, who saw the exchange, exchanged looks of their own. They were all thinking the same thing. Should we tell him?

"So?" Syaoran asked. There was a wave of looks around the room and indecisive opening and closing mouths. "What?"

"There's, uh, there's something you should know." Anna spoke up, glancing not-so-subtly at Sakura.

He repeated roughly. "We miss something?"

Koko pointed at Sakura bravely, "she's British."

"Is she now?" Syaoran glanced up at Sakura, who offered a smile. He glanced at his watch. "Alright." He didn't have a reaction at all. "So about the -"

"You don't sound surprised." Anna exclaimed, conversely being the one sounding surprised.

"Are we supposed to be?" Eriol gave them that I-know-something-you-don't smile again.

"She's British." Kitsuneme emphasized disbelievingly.

"Yes, I think you've made it quite clear." Syaoran nodded, trying again to move on, "Anyway we're-"

"But she's _British."_ Kitsuneme repeated, this time slapping his hand on the table.

Eriol sat down comfortably, looking up at the open jaws and incredulous faces. "Well, what do you want?" He changed his facial expression to one of shock, "We leave for one hour and now she's British?! Good Lord, is England now France, too?!"

"But-I-we-" Yuu stuttered, glancing at Nonoko, then Koko.

"How did you know?" Nonoko asked what Yuu had meant to say.

"We saw it the first day." Syaoran responded, now a little irritated at their habit of interrupting his sentences. He glanced at his watch again, he had places to be! He stared at them blankly. "What, did you think we were daft?"

"First Hotaru, now MIA." Koko threw up his hands. "I need to find a new specialty."

Meanwhile, Kitsuneme took offense to the comment. "Are you saying _we're_," Kitsuneme scowled, mocking him in a British accent, "daft?"

Syaoran gave a look that said, that's a big leap to take. But what came out of his mouth was, "if the shoe fits-"

"You-" Kitsuneme growled.

"Boys!" Anna called out, waving her arms about as if that'd stop the upcoming fight.

"What he's trying to say," Eriol cut in, "is that we're in the espionage business, and naturally, we can spot it when the opportunity presents itself." He offered Sakura a reassuring grin. "It was good, the Italian accent and such, just not good enough."

"So," Syaoran veered the conversation back on topic for the third time. "The lawyer." He glanced at his watch again. "We're on a bit of a timeframe. We still have to report to Mr. Kinomoto, personally."

Sakura suddenly sat up, straight as a ruler. "Sorry, who?"

"Oh," Eriol quickly assumed they didn't know who his partner was talking about. "The director of MIA."

Sakura's expression did not change, rather, it worsened. She paled a few shades, there was an urgency in her eyes, and almost a fear. In a shouted whisper, as if she didn't want to find out yet was desperate to know, she uttered, "his name?"

"Well, he likes to keep his identity quiet, you know." Eriol scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "normally we call him Mr. K and such. Not many people know his full name, you see, and I don't really know if I should-"

"Tell me." Sakura leaned forward, her expression a mixture of desperation and panic.

"Fujitaka," Eriol jumped, startled by Sakura's expression. "Kinomoto…"

She paled a few more shades. Sakura's expression was a cross between being floored by the revelation and as if she had just seen a ghost.

"...why?" Eriol ended his statement in confusion.

"I - I - just…" Good thing she was already sitting down. "I - um…" She leaned back slowly, blinking. "Sorry, it's all - I was told he was...um, he wasn't around anymore - I just…I'm..."

She trailed off dazedly, not staring at any particular spot. Syaoran hadn't taken his eyes off of her, half concerned, half confused.

Hotaru glanced at Koko, who nodded at her. She wasn't acting.

"Is she an Alice?" Natsume asked suddenly, curious about Sakura but not enough to veer off topic.

Syaoran turned back to look at Natsume, blinking as if he had just lost his train of thoughts. Good thing his partner didn't.

"The lawyer." Eriol mentioned, just to get his partner back on track. "Hasn't said anything since the arrest, really." He answered. "We don't know. She's a legitimate lawyer- her background checks out."

"So the question should be, does she work for the Alices?" Koko inadvertently corrected his team ringleader.

Syaoran opened his palms up in question. "Right now, the question is, do you want to be there to find out?"

"We're about to go interrogate her."

"If she's connected to the Alices in some way..." Yuu brought up a good point.

"It's better we don't show our faces." Nonoko softly finished the thought.

"It could jeopardize our position." Anna looked to Hotaru for confirmation as she said this. Hotaru only nodded.

With a look around the room, the British realized that the Americans have come to a census. Syaoran cast a lingering glance over Sakura, who was still sitting dazed in her chair. He wondered if he should ask, but was pulled out of the room by Rika's voice.

"Syaoran?" She asked, holding the door open for the pair. Eriol was already halfway out, looking back at him with a mysterious smile.

Syaoran shook his head slightly to himself, walking out after the MIA employees.

.

.

.

"It's been five hours." Eriol stated, half-impressed, half-exasperated.

"Not one word." Syaoran agreed, staring at the woman through the window glass.

"Syaoran!" Sakura called, running down the hall.

Interrupted in their discussion with other MIA agents, Syaoran and his partner turned. Eriol's both eyebrows rose.

"You have still have the lawyer?" Sakura asked, bearing the hopeful smile of a child about to ask a big favor.

Eriol nodded slowly. Two questions lingered in his mind. How did she find them so quickly?

"Alright, so what is it now?" Syaoran asked. But by the mirth in his eyes, he was close to a teasing mood. "Ship our little catch off to Swahili?"

"Five minutes." Sakura looked urgent. "Just five."

Syaoran's slight smile dropped. He quickly noticed the phone in her hands, and active number. Silently, he opened the door for her. Sakura gave him a quick smile and nod before marching towards the woman.

Nobara looked up. She blinked, her gentle face showing neither frown nor smile. Rather, she was confused. Did they think sending in a woman will make her crack? She does have pretty eyes, though.

Sakura wordlessly handed her the phone, causing an even more puzzled crease in Nobara's forehead. The undercover Alice purposely sat on the table in front of Nobara, so that her figure blocked the MIA agents' view of Nobara.

Neither of the MIA agents could see Nobara's expression change as realization dawned on her. Her soft grey eyes flashed up to Sakura in surprise. She only listened, because Tsubasa had instructed her not to say anything, not to give anything away. In the same way, Nobara wordlessly handed the phone back to Sakura when Tsubasa finished.

.

.

.

Back in the conference room, Hotaru was tinkering. By the frown and the concentration in her forehead, she was tinkering the hell out of the itty bitty microchip.

She hooked the wires up to her laptop, watching the mini microchip with one eye as she tried to electronically gain access to it.

Judging by the hairs on the back of her neck standing up, the team had turned their attention to Hotaru. She muttered a few curses as she switched back and forth from typing on the keyboard and tweaking with the wires.

She adjusted one, cursing even more harshly as a spark flew and she jerked her finger back.

For the second time that day, the British agents barged in the room.

Syaoran looked around immediately, his eyes not landing on the one he was looking for. "Where's Sakura?" He blurted.

Koko looked around, too, finding her missing. He then looked expectantly at Yuu.

"Why do you always look at me?" Yuu grumbled. He glanced up at the Brit. "She left about an hour ago."

"Just left without saying goodbye." Mochu frowned, disappointedly.

Eriol spoke up, "she came to see us," he checked his watch. "That was half an hour ago."

"Then you're the last ones who saw her." Yuu decided for them.

"About Sakura-" Koko burst out, having been waiting for the Brits' return to ask of her. Since they were already on the topic, he couldn't wait much longer. "She told us she did it to test us."

"The cover?" Syaoran frowned, pausing too to meddle in the side conversation. "She said we exceeded her expectations. Took us two days and you, five."

"She gave you the same reason for her cover then?" Kitsuneme pursued needlessly.

"Yes." Eriol confirmed, already knowing where this discussion was heading. "It was a test."

Yuu frowned. They weren't wrong in being suspicious, were they? "And you believe her? Why?"

"I would've done the exact same thing." Syaoran answered firmly without space for argument.

Eriol nodded in agreement. Perhaps in their field, the investigative sort, they prefer research and fact over speculation. But for the spies, well… "I'd want to know how good the team I'm being assigned to really is." They'd want to see it for themselves.

There a long pause as the Americans thought about this. It made sense, after all.

Yuu, wanting to break the contemplative silence, turned the subject around, "So how's the interrogation going? It's been more than five hours."

"Yeah, about that." Syaoran turned to Natsume, who looked up from watching Hotaru. "Does anyone else know of your living arrangements?"

Natsume frowned, looking at his team.

"Other than them." Syaoran waved his hand dismissively.

Meanwhile, Eriol spoke up with admiration on his tongue. "I don't know what Sakura told her - or who Sakura was with on the phone - because they got her to talk. We spent five hours on Ms. Ibaragi, not a word. Interpol spends five minutes, and bam, she wants to talk."

"But only to you." Syaoran walked closer to Natsume. "About something called an Aoi."

Koko promptly fell out of his chair. Multiple jaws dropped. Hotaru whirled around so fast, she might've gotten a whiplash. And Natsume stood up abruptly.

.

.

.

Meanwhile a dark figure hovered just inside the shadows of a cozy residential street. Clad all in black, the figure perched on the ledge of a flat's window, three floors up. There was a slight pause, before the figure made its way illegally into the flat.

Not long after, a car arrived in front of the apartment building. Parking by the side of the street as he always did, the director of MIA stepped out wearily. He made his way to the door, already thinking of a certain liquor bottle to down and his bed to occupy. He climbed the stairs with a sigh, completely oblivious to the figure already waiting patiently in his flat.

Fumbling with his keys for a moment, he unlocked the door, letting himself in and taking off his coat.

The figure in all black stirred in the shadows.

.

.

.

**A/N: **and I say no CCS nor GA knowledge is required to read this story because if I had any reference to canon, I'll try to explain it, such as what I'll be doing below. And in advance, I apologize for the boring after credits scene today.

_Canon - pertaining to the original story in which a fanfiction is based upon._

.

.

.

The interviewer looks around. Now it was just her and the director, sitting in high chairs. "Where's Mr. Inspiration today?"

"Oh," the director shrugs, waving a hand dismissively, "sleeping in his trailer, probably."

The interviewer laughs. "So from watching the most recent episode, I saw some guest appearances from canon. You know, Shizune Yamanouchi and Nobara Ibaragi, both Gakuen Alice characters."

"Yup," the director nods professionally, "that's correct." After a pause, she decides to add, "they're obviously not going to get a lot of screen time, you know, mostly because there's just so much going on. Also, the pace of the plot moves on extremely quickly."

"Right. From earlier episodes we saw Ruka Nogi from Gakuen Alice and Rika from Cardcaptor Sakura. She mentioned Naoko, too, though the lovely 'secretary' still hasn't gotten screen time." The interviewer reported. "What's your say on, you know, these guest appearances?"

"Well, you see, I'm trying to include as many characters as I can from canon. Most likely all CCS characters will be included. And, well," Aspirator lifts her hand, leveling off her palm, "with Gakuen Alice, there's just too many characters from the manga and anime. I'll try to include them all. But like Naoko, I may just have them mentioned in. For example, I might set a teddy bear in a scene as a nod off to Mr. Bear from GA."

"Right, right. And mentioning Naoko as the more paperwork loving 'secretary' of the MIA floor is a reference to her as the bookworm character in the original canon."

"Exactly!" The director points to the interviewer with an understanding nod. "And the thing with these characters is that I'm not going to depend on characterization from the original story because I want to develop these characters myself. So actually, my viewers (readers) who have not read the canon have a little advantage here, because they don't have the bias that canon-readers do have. By the way, with Naoko, I'm planning on having her be more included in the story, and have a little screen time too. "

"The same amount as Rika, the other secretary?"

"Around the same, yeah."

"What about Tomoyo?"

"Oh, yes, I love Tomoyo." The director gushes. "I mean, I guess, the actress too."

The interview laughs. "So you'll be including her a lot more."

"Definitely. I can't promise anything, but I'll definitely try to have a lot of Eriol-Tomoyo moments, because, honestly, I love them."

"Alright." The interviewer clasps her hands together. "Thank you for talking to me today."

"No problem, no problem at all." The director smiles.


	5. Esprit De Corps

Fujitaka Kinomoto sighed wearily as he entered his humble home. He didn't bother to turn on the lights as he took off his coat and his shoes in the foyer. He passed on to his living room, his sleeves brushing one of his side tables as he reached over to turn on the light.

As soon as the room brightened, he whirled around with a gun in his hand. It was pointed accurately at a lone figure standing by his window. Dressed in all black with a deep hood, the figure made no move.

"I'm old, but I'm not that old." Fujitaka commented wryly. He recognized the get up immediately. "You're an Alice aren't you?"

The figure made no move nor bothered to reply. The figure was too small to be Persona.

He unlatched the safety pin on his handgun. "I talked to Persona yesterday. I did what he asked. Now what do you want?"

Slowly, the figure lifted a small, feminine hand, pulling back the hood to reveal vivid emerald eyes and auburn strands that matched the man's.

Fujitaka would recognize those eyes anywhere. The hand on his gun shook visibly, and his voice broke as he uttered, barely above a whisper, "Sakura?"

She gave a single nod. Tentatively the man stepped closer. A small thud reverberates throughout the room as the MIA director's gun lay forgotten on the ground. Here and now, he was no longer the strong MIA director, but an old, lonely father.

"I thought…" She started softly, her voice as smooth as her mother's. "I thought I was an orphan. Yuka told me my father was Fujitaka Kinomoto, but I - and you were alive all this time -"

By now the man had reached his long lost daughter. Uncertainly, he pulled her into a warm embrace. After a stiff moment, the daughter returned it, her arms tightening around his torso.

Fujitaka could barely hold back tears, his eyes softening as he parted and he looked at her properly. "You have your mother's eyes." He told her.

She nods, blinking rapidly. "And her clumsiness." She adds, "Yuka told me."

He smiles softly in reminiscence.

"I have your nose, though, and your stubbornness." Sakura goes on.

Fujitaka's smile breaks out to a grin. "My stubbornness seems to be a dominant trait." Sakura's eyebrows furrowed, but before she could ask, he continued, "but you came here for a reason, didn't you?"

Without responding, Sakura took out a necklace from underneath her get-up. It was a pink stone on a black strand of string. Between two index fingers and two thumbs, she pressed and twisted the stone open to reveal a small key.

Fujitaka froze. He's seen that before.

His daughter holds up the small item to the light. On one end was a small pink circle, enclosing a yellow star. Two minuscule wings came off the sides of the circle. There was an even smaller red jewel that connected the two ends. The other end of the key were two simple rectangular teeth, meant to fit in a key hole. "What does this open?"

.

.

.

**In Plain Sight**

_**Aspirator**_

.

.

.

.

"Why do you think the Alices are behind all this?" Hotaru asked the ultimate question. The A Team, minus Natsume, sat around the conference table. It was late at night, only two hours after the British barged in with Nobara's proposition.

The team looked around at each other. Few ventured to shrug.

"Fun?" Koko shrugged. "Because they can?"

"Disrupting the normal order of things?" Nonoko offered feebly.

"Money?" Mochu piped up, because that was what he found most valuable in the world.

Sakura sauntered back in the room, acting as if she hadn't mysteriously disappeared for the past two hours. She, of course, noticed quickly that Natsume, Syaoran, and Eriol were missing.

Interrupting the flow of conversation, she had to ask, "where are the others?"

"They're talking to the lawyer." Yuu responded.

"Oh, right." Sakura sat down, remembering. "But why aren't we all there to watch it?"

Yuu patiently explained. "We thought it'd be better that we keep to our cover, in case she only knew Natsume was alive and not the rest."

Sakura nodded understandingly.

"Anyway," Hotaru tapped her fingers on the glass table contemplatingly. "Hm, yes, millions of dollars of scientific research-"

"Pounds." Sakura quietly uttered.

The team turned sharply to her, and some even gasped theatrically. She had corrected Hotaru Imai!

There was a stiff pause. Hotaru blinked, raised her chin, and continued. "Yes, we are in London. Pounds." Still, the tense silence stretched on. Hotaru cleared her throat, speaking as if reading from a boring textbook, "money might be a viable reason. We stripped them of all their resources four years ago -"

Sakura frowned slightly in disagreeance.

"Something wrong?" Hotaru was quick to call her out.

Sakura set her lips to a thin line. "No."

She wasn't about to tell the woman that she was an Alice and that was not how she saw four years ago. She did feel something change within the organization but she hardly thinks they stripped the organization of their resources. Not completely, anyway. Her Master definitely saw them coming - he had to, if he sent her away. For the next few years, she was training for a specific skill set. She traveled all over the world via private jet (oh, how poor and bankrupt the Alices became). Needless to say, Sakura was doubting Hotaru's word.

For the first time, Koko caught a glimpse of shrewdness in Sakura's expression. She smiled. "Not if you're refusing to brief me on your version of four years ago."

Cold, calculating amethyst eyes met firm, determined emerald ones.

The tenseness was so thick in the air, Koko could imagine being able to slice the air with a knife. Kitsuneme and Koko both exchanged wide eyed glances with the rest of the team.

Nobody said a word for a long, long moment.

Hotaru looked away first, avoiding the situation. She suddenly spoke up, continuing as if nothing had just happened. "The Alices are cunning. There has to be an elaborate plan behind it all."

The team was caught off guard by the sudden change in conversation direction.

Yuu recovered quickly, pushing up his glasses professionally. "To figure out a plan, we need to figure out their motive."

The team were back in their swing of things. Anna contributed, "We can't do that if we don't even know what they're after."

"We've already decided," Sakura spoke up, confusion riding on her eyebrows. "The strategy was wrong. We said it wasn't the Alices. So why are we trying to fit them in this whole mess, now?"

"Because they wanted to kill Dr. Yamanouchi." Anna spoke up quickly when she spied Hotaru's impatient look. "There has to be a plan or reason behind that."

"The two cases we decided were kind of like the Alices, though, remember?" Koko added. "The outfit, the hand to hand combat thing Eriol said."

"They're framing them, then?" Anna jumped to the conclusion. "Someone's framing the Alices for all these acts. Why?"

"Would killing the doctor they wanted be the Alice's way of retaliation?" Sakura suggested, finding a way to put an end to all the team's suspicions. It was her job anyway, being undercover and all.

After a long moment of contemplation, Hotaru ordered, "Compile a list of all Alice's enemies -"

"You mean basically every organization in the world." Sakura bravely interrupted her.

She ignored her. "-and narrow it down to the ones that could pull this whole stunt off."

"You're kidding." Sakura burst out in protest.

"And why not?" Hotaru turned sharply to the woman.

"Not to rain on your parade," Sakura shifted uncomfortably. "Um, to stop it entirely. If it's not the Alices then it's none of our concern. The Metropolitan Police is on the case." None responded. "If we are the task force brought together for the purpose of bringing the Alices down," she bit her lip, "then I ask that we stay on task."

"Request denied." Hotaru emotionlessly snapped.

"Hotaru!" Came more than one source of American objection.

The rocket scientist's head whipped to the traitors - or that's how they feel by the dirty look on her face.

"She has a point." Anna gently reminded. At least they didn't look scared of her. No, they looked concerned. "At least explain why." What, were they afraid she was falling into immature, cold grudges and disagreeing for the sake of disagreeing? Hotaru was anything but childish!

"What task are we supposed to stay on?" Hotaru hated explaining her stance. She hated more to explain it to her very own team. "This is the only lead we have."

"Not really." Sakura again, objected. She sat up, "No, you do have something." She glanced at Hotaru's laptop. It was sitting innocently off to the side, the entire screen was filled with digits and letters. The computer was running through a heavy encryption. A wire was connecting the computer and the mini microchip.

"We're still cracking the encryption." Hotaru gestured to the laptop as if it was obvious. "So you want us to just idle away." Normally, it would've been a question, but Hotaru stated the sentence coldly.

"If you're familiar with the term." Sakura struck back. "What about patience? Is that in your dictionary?"

Mochu whistled.

"Fighting fire with fire." Koko remarked.

"Ice, more like." Kitsuneme corrected.

"Either way," Hotaru surprisingly addressed the two's passing comments. She didn't look at them, however, but locked her cold, cold eyes on Sakura's fiery, green ones. "The fire will only get bigger and the ice will only get colder."

.

.

.

"Just tell me," Natsume spoke through gritted teeth. "Tell me why I'm here."

"I told you." Nobara blinked innocently, "I'm going to tell you about Aoi."

"Then why haven't you?" The agent tried to keep in his frustration. They have been at this for hours, _hours._ And all the lawyer's revealed is some pointless ramble about her life. The agent glimpsed out the window to his left. See, even the sun was beginning to come up!

"I'll get to that." Nobara waved a hand dismissively, settling more comfortably in her chair.

Natsume dragged a hand down his face. "Before or after the apocalypse?" He grumbled.

"So anyway," the lawyer ignored him. "I visit him sometimes, well, at like public places. I don't really know where he lives - he wouldn't tell me. It's okay, we see each other enough times anyway."

Behind the interrogation glass, Syaoran was just as frustrated. Eriol, not surprisingly was amusedly eating popcorn while he watched. The pair had grown tired of standing, so brought themselves a chair.

"Does she realize that we don't give a single fuck about her sex life?" Syaoran grumbled to his partner.

"I wouldn't call it much of a sex life, mate, she's only been active with one dude."

"One 'misunderstood, but otherwise really sweet guy. You just have to look under the calm and collected persona' yeah, that bloke." Syaoran rolled his eyes.

"He isn't so calm and collected once I start, you know," Nobara was saying, wiggling her eyebrows. "shedding a few layers - or a lot. Like that one time-"

"You've got to be kidd-" Natsume rolled his eyes towards the ceiling - and that's when he saw it. A nearly imperceptible red laser dot moving across the ceiling just above Nobara and quickly down the wall -

"Get DOWN!" The American agent yelled, he knew the lawyer didn't have reflexes as fast as he did. As he hurtled himself at the ground, he kicked out the legs of the chair Nobara was sitting in. With a yelp, Nobara fell; at the right moment, too. There was a loud shattering noise as a part of the window broke into shards of glass, opening a gateway for the sniper bullet to pass through. Not a blink of the eye later, it lodged itself in the wall, where Nobara's blood would've spattered.

Nobara was hyperventilating at this point, "They're gonna kill me!" She was yelling as Natsume hoisted her up.

"Who?" He asked. Judging by his face, he already knew the answer.

She ignored him, frantically hanging on as she desperately breathed out, "You have to save - please - save him - please -" She didn't get to finish as Natsume practically threw her out the door and into the the hallway, running after her and closing the door just as another bullet lodged itself into the heavy wood.

Eriol was already on the phone. "Breach on floor 15, code red, sniper. We need a chopper on the roof NOW!"

"_We got a Raven landing in two minutes." _The other end responded within a few seconds.

Natsume glanced at the MIA pair swiftly as the four converged in the hallway. Syaoran quickly took lead, as Eriol watched their backs.

"Tell me what I need to know, _now."_ Natsume ordered, in a tone even Syaoran wouldn't dare disobey.

"The Alices - They're planning something big, something even bigger than their usual. They're waging war on everything and everyone." Nobara sucked in the air hungrily, having delivered that speech in a single breath. "How do you think Augustus built the Roman Empire? He declared war on everyone and won all the battles."

"That's not what-" Eriol, a history enthusiast, spoke up from behind disapprovingly.

But Natsume interrupted, in a hurry to move on. "Whatever, get to the important part."

"This is war." She emphasized, then glancing about as if the walls could hear. "I'm a part of this already - you have to save him - Master's gonna - he's bringing all out war because he doesn't care if everyone dies! He wants them to die! In the end, they'll all die!"

"That doesn't make sense." Syaoran voiced what the other two agents were also thinking.

"This is what you risk your life to tell me?" Natsume hollered at Nobara as he dragged her along by the arm to keep up with Syaoran.

Nobara glanced around again, even making Eriol feel a little paranoid. With fear in her eyes, she whispered darkly, "his name is Kuonji."

Syaoran led the troupe to one of MIA's speed elevators. All four got in. Syaoran whipped around to glance questionably at her as the four of them got in."What do you mean his name is - who? Whose name?"

Having already experienced the elevator, Syaoran and Eriol held on to side railings as the contraption jerked upwards. Natsume stumbled and Nobara lost her footing, but Natsume had caught her.

She didn't respond, looking much too pale and feeble.

Natsume had other topics he wanted to get to. "Where is Aoi?" he only had time to ask before the elevator doors opened to the topmost floor. Eriol ran out as Syaoran waited for Natsume and Nobara to leave, switching up the pair's roles.

"Where you won't find her -" Nobara answered breathlessly.

Eriol brought them to a stairwell that will take them up to the roof.

"but they don't care -" She ran up the stairs, stumbling ever so slightly as Natsume half dragged her and Syaoran half pushed her, "you're dead!" Nobara gasped out between tired breaths.

"The name - location -" Natsume let her go roughly as we reached the landing. The sounds of the helicopter was starting to drown out our voices, but his came out loud. He was shouting in frustration, "Tell me something useful!"

Nobara responded though Natsume barely caught her words, "She's Everywhere."

Natsume looked as if ready to ask her more, but Eriol snatched her along, bringing her closer to the helicopter as it landed.

There was a long _bang!_ and the four all instinctively crouched. Natsume looked nonchalantly at the bullet lodged by his feet. Eriol had dragged Nobara down along with him. Then came consecutive shooting - a handgun, judging by the sound of it.

With even more urgency, Eriol rushed Nobara to the helicopter - but just as they got to it, the driver was shot in the head, his blood spattering on the side window. Eriol barely had time to pull Nobara back before a black figure quickly somersaulted through the open doors and shot Nobara directly in the chest.

The moment she landed, her hood flew back revealing pale blonde hair, red lips, and blue eyes. She was completely decked in black - even with black gloves.

Eriol tackled her as soon as the bullet was fired, but it was too late. He had only managed to wrestle the weapon from her. The person herself however, stayed away from his grasp. In a flash of silver, she had somehow produced a blade. And she used it, for Eriol fell back with a pained gasp. She had slashed him in the abdomen.

Syaoran was by his partner's side in an instant, blocking the woman's second slash. As the MIA agent and the attacker engaged in quick combat, Natsume checked Nobara for a pulse. He shook his head at an inquiring Eriol. He asked the Brit if his wound was deep. Eriol kept his hand on his wound, smiling his usual smile, reassuring Natsume that he was fine.

Syaoran dodged the sharp blade and caught on to her outstretched arm, twisting it in attempts to make her let go of her new weapon. She used her other hand and leg to both punch him in the gut and kick at his shin. Syaoran instinctively crouched down in pain.

Just as he did so, he caught a glimpse of another black figure coming over the edge of the building.

Natsume was standing at this point, addressing the attacker, "Luna."

Syaoran knew the American will be joining the fight. He rolled away, going for the other opponent. It was a woman, too.

After a series of quick hand-to-hand combat, which Syaoran matched just in time, the woman brought a sharp elbow heavily down on the side of his neck. It accurately hit a nerve, causing him to crumple to the ground. Syaoran clawed at the ground with gritted teeth, his body twisting in pain.

"Sorry." The woman surprisingly had a kind voice. "It'll only last a few minutes."

Syaoran tried to look up, to squint at her, but her shadow was moving rapidly towards the one called Luna.

The newcomer stomped quickly to the other Alice. Her body language exuded anger. "What the hell are you doing here?"

What?

Syaoran was completely puzzled as he tried to ignore the painful sensation on his body. Eriol glanced up with furrowed eyebrows. Natsume, who was stepping away from Nobara's body and Eriol's position, froze in place.

She may have been hissing at the other Alice, but on the silent rooftop, she might as well have been yelling.

.

.

.

Rather than pouring herself another cup of coffee, Hotaru got a cup of water instead. Popping Aspirin in her mouth and drinking the water, she swallowed gracefully. That encryption was starting to get the better of her.

Hotaru held onto the table, sighing. A sign of weakness she would never show if anyone else was in the breakroom with her.

"You know you wouldn't be having such trouble if you'd let anyone else help."

Hotaru was no longer alone. With a dark frown, she straightened, refraining a glare at the Interpol agent.

Sakura calmly strode across the break room and poured herself a cup of tea. "Not me, of course." She continued. "Let's just be honest here," Sakura turned her bright eyes to meet cold ones. "you don't trust me."

"I have no reason to." The American responded.

"Actually, you do." Sakura set the cup down. "Interpol has released the classified background information the day you figured me out." All it took was a phone call to Tsubasa. "So there's the records for fact-checking if you'd like."

"Fact-checking." Hotaru scoffed. "I have seen them. One single document that could easily have been made up. I cross referenced with all the schools you apparently attended. There are no real records of you. Your background didn't even go as far back as grade school."

Sakura laughed, hiding the annoyance within. She told Tsubasa to get cracking on grade school! She spoke aloud, "You're very thorough." Perhaps she'll redirect the conversation. "But neither do you. No records of you after grade school and before working for the FBI."

"How did you know about that?" Hotaru's voice was dark, dangerous. She looked as if ready to strike.

"I do my own research." Sakura seemed undeterred by the American's tone. "You were a runaway, weren't you?"

"My past is of no concern to you." Hotaru responded, closing herself off like a turtle retreating back to its shell.

Sakura refrained from throwing the statement back at her. "So let's focus on the present. Why don't you like me?" She asked instead. "You've made it clear enough."

"I don't like your attitude."

"That's ironic." The undercover Brit responded calmly. "I'm speaking out to appease you but turns out that is just making it worse."

"To appease me?" Hotaru repeated incredulously. "You're fighting against me."

"But you'd be more suspicious if I agreed with everything you said, wouldn't you? You only respect intelligence and usefulness - that's what I'm doing."

Hotaru was silent.

Sakura picked up her cup again. "If you'd get off of your high horse, you'll see how much I've already contributed to your investigation." She paused just before leaving. "I'm an open book, Hotaru. I was assigned here to help, with your approval or not, and that's what I'll do."

"You have a hidden motive." Hotaru blurted out, causing Sakura to freeze just before the door.

After a millisecond pause, Sakura smoothly responded. "So do you."

Hotaru was left alone in the break room once more with her thoughts. As much as she didn't want to admit it, Sakura was right. They wouldn't have been able to even remotely touch the microchip if Sakura hadn't known how to open it. They wouldn't have been able to talk to Nobara at all if Sakura and Interpol hadn't stepped in.

Hotaru took another sip of her water, frowning. She supposed she was being unfair, wanting to know Sakura's personal agenda without even revealing her own.

.

.

.

Luna paid their witnesses no attention. She flicked her hair, snottily responding, "Your sniper skills are as bad as you are lately."

"Please, I was only supposed to wound her. And neither of us are trained snipers, so don't you dare." The other woman huffed. Her livid tone returned as she asked harshly, "that doesn't explain why you're here."

"Master sent me to finish the job." Luna turned her gaze to the dead body on the ground, ignoring the fact that Eriol was squinting confusedly at them.

"Finish the-" the woman whipped around. She took a step forward, towards Nobara's body. As if her level of anger couldn't get any higher, she smashed her teeth in frustration. "You _killed her?!_ Do you know who this is? Nobara fucking Ibaragi - _the lawyer!_ She's -" The Alice lowered her clenched fists. Breathing deeply, she lowered her voice too, "She's not supposed to be dead."

Luna seemed riled up when the other woman raised her voice. With an angry jerk, she gestured towards Natsume, "but he is!"

The woman whirled around to face Natsume. She seemed to have noticed him for the first time. His hand twitched as he began to raise it.

She inhaled in a shaky gasp. Her face was a mixture of horror, shock, confusion, but most of all, fear.

Syaoran was starting regain full control of his muscular movement. The woman was right, it would last only a few minutes. He tried to get up, his arms shaky, for his muscles still felt weak.

Natsume, on the other hand, took another hesitant step forward. It was as if he couldn't believe she was real, that she was in front of him. No more than ten paces away. He uttered quietly, "Mikan…"

Luna smirked in satisfaction at her reaction. "Wait 'til Master hears about this." She uttered in a low voice.

Mikan tore her eyes away from Natsume, glancing at her acquaintance. With one last smug look, Luna turned around and proceeded to, well, simply put, jump off the building.

Mikan looked torn between Luna's retreating back and the slowly advancing Natsume. As soon as he took one more step forward, she stepped back. Aghast, her voice was close to a whisper, "No…" She quickly ran off in the direction where Luna went.

The fact that the woman was running away from him seemed to turn a gear in Natsume's mind. He suddenly started running after her, but he was too late. He stopped right at the edge of the building a second after Mikan made the jump.

Syaoran stumbled to his feet, wobbling dangerously.

Mikan had caught on to a power line running close to the high rise. She slid down it some, then let go to land on another roof top. By jumping, tumbling, and other methods, she was rapidly catching up to another black figure in the distance.

So that was why they wore black gloves along with their all black attire.

Syaoran turned to Natsume, glimpsing a pained expression before he caught the Brit's eye and quickly turned away. He moved towards the bodies on the ground.

The MIA agent's body may be weak, but his mouth wasn't. "She was The Woman, wasn't she?" Syaoran's words stopped him. It wasn't hard to deduce. "The same person that came to you a year ago, the same person you fell in love with."

The American spared him a dark look, which he took as a yes, before moving on. Syaoran stumbled his way to Eriol.

The partner looked up at him half-amused, half-concerned. "She really knows how to wound a bloke, doesn't she? What was it, anyway?"

"Just a dose of 'my entire nervous system is going berserk'. You should try it sometime." Syaoran sighed as he pulled out his phone, with subtly shaking fingers. "Guess we're both heading to St. Matthew's."

Eriol shook his head at his partner. "I called already."

"Oh." Syaoran turned his gaze towards their American friend.

Natsume, who was patting down the lawyer, finally spoke gravely. "Nothing." He then began to take off her shoes.

Syaoran rose an eyebrow at him. "What, you reckon she keeps a calling card in her shoe?"

Though Eriol was, Natsume was not amused. "The Alices have a tattoo on their ankle." He moved about her foot. He wrinkled his nose, touching the cold skin with only two fingers. "She's not an Alice."

"She _is_ really a solicitor, then." Syaoran planted his butt on the ground with a grunt. "Why do you suppose they hired one?"

Natsume shrugged as he looked at Nobara's frozen face with a frown.

.

.

.

At half past eight in the morning, Natsume sauntered wearily into the conference room. Immediately, he was bombarded with questions.

"How did it go?"

"Did she say anything useful?"

Sakura immediately noticed the absence. "Where's Syaoran?" Belatedly, she added, "And Eriol?"

Hers seemed to be the only one he graced with an answer. Natsume settled down comfortably on a chair before meeting her concerned gaze. "Hospital. I just escorted them, and came back…" The last word was accompanied with a sigh.

The team exchanged surprised glances.

"So it didn't go well."

"What happened?"

Sakura, on the other reacted, reacted the most dramatically. She stood up, panicked. "Nobara," she blurted, "did they - they're after her - is she safe?"

Again, hers was the only question graced with an answer. Natsume didn't even lift his head. "Dead."

Sakura inhaled a sharp breath. Yuu and Koko saw it coming - the blaming herself for the woman's death and such.

"It's not your fault that you made her talk." Koko offered. He sure didn't know how to phrase his comforts.

Natsume lifted his head. He stared straight at Sakura. "You need to take a break."

"What?" Sakura breathed out, surprised.

Yuu caught on quickly. Gently, he herded the Interpol agent to the door. "Sorry, it's just some A Team business, nothing personal…" He glanced at his team members. "Okay, well, nothing _too_ personal. Just give us a few, okay? Don't worry about it."

Sakura sighed she stared at the glazed door in her face. She doesn't even know what the hell an Aoi is, and that was what Nobara talked to Natsume about. That was probably what got her killed too.

.

.

.

Not one hour later, Syaoran walked weakly into the break room. The couch there was much, much better than the stiff chairs in the conference room.

"Oh - Syaoran!" Sakura exclaimed, nearly dropping her cup.

He started, freezing in the doorway to look at her. He breathed out, "Sakura. Hi."

"Hi," She placed her cup on the table, walking eagerly towards him, "you look like you're in pain," Sakura frowned, "do you need help?"

"Just - I'm fine." Syaoran grumbled, tightening his grip on the ice pack he held by his neck. He didnt want to look weak or anything. He made his way to the couch as Sakura followed closely in concern. "I passed by the," Syaoran angled his head towards the direction of the conference room, "the room. Looks like they're having a serious meeting. Aren't you going to join them?"

"Well," Sakura bit her lip sheepishly as Syaoran settled down comfortably on the couch. "I was kicked out, actually. I don't know, it's just A Team stuff, is what they said."

Syaoran frowned in disapproval. "Being a bit exclusive, are they?"

Sakura nodded dumbly, surprised. Is he on her side?

"They can decide whatever they want to divulge." Syaoran continued, however, not seeing Sakura's hopeful smile slowly disappear. "but keeping one intelligent brain from contributing in any way because she doesn't know is more harmful than helpful."

The hopeful smile was back on her face.

"But anyway," Syaoran shrugged as he leaned back, his eyes slowly closing as he willed his body to rest, "it's their decision." With that, the discussion was over. He assumed the lady was going to leave, maybe talk to the team or something productive. She wouldn't stay; nobody ever stays for Syaoran.

Hey, Sakura thought, at least one of the team (or two, if she counts Eriol - she's sure Eriol feels the same) understands her value. A small smile graces her face as she lingers just before him, her eyes tracing every contour line, swallowing in his appearance. This had to be the best assignment yet, working undercover with such attractive people.

With slight twitches of his eyelashes, his eyes slowly opened. Amber eyes, with beautiful golden specks in his irises, re-adjusted to the light, and focused on her. Sakura almost forget she was staring. Sheepishly, she stuttered, "Sorry - I didn't - um -" she motioned to the spot to his right him, "can I?"

Syaoran straightened, realizing that she wasn't actually going to leave. "Yeah." He readjusted the icepack on his neck.

Sakura gracefully settled down on the soft cushions, unaware that Syaoran was sneaking glances at her as she did so. She fumbled with her shirt, now what does she say?

"Why aren't _you_ joining the meeting then?" Sakura asked.

"Tired." Syaoran responded curtly, with a frown. "Anyway, I was there. She said two important things, I think." He sighed, thinking back. "'His name is Kuonji' and 'Aoi is everywhere'."

Sakura hid her surprised gasp. A billion thoughts zipped through her mind. Nobara knew the Alices' Master's name? She wasn't even an Alice. How did she know that? No wonder they went after her so fast. "You happen to know who Aoi is?"

Syaoran shrugged. "Someone important to Natsume, I reckon."

After a moment, Syaoran was surprisingly the one who said, "you alright?"

"Me?" Sakura pointed to herself incredulously. "I'm not the one with a mighty bruise on his neck."

"But you bore a look yesterday. It was frightening." Syaoran didn't want to sound _too_ concerned, "I mean, you just didn't look...alright." When Sakura didn't respond, Syaoran continued, "you know, when you asked about Mr. Kinomoto."

"Oh…" Sakura remembered her reaction when they told her who the director of MIA was. "I was just...stunned, is all." Sakura didn't want to talk about it. Her attention diverted to his neck. "Can I see?" She asked softly.

The Brit turned his attention back to her. Slowly, he lifted his frozen hand holding the ice pack away. Sakura didn't seem to notice his gaze on her as she frowned slightly at the sight of the purple bruise.

"She hit you awfully hard." Sakura spoke sympathetically. Tentatively, her fingers reached up to touch the bruise. It was cold, but of course, he had an ice pack on it. "Did it hurt?"

"Hm?" Syaoran asked distractedly. Though his neck was frozen, he could still feel her fingers brushing his skin. They were warm and soft.

"When she hit you." Sakura continued, unaware of her effect on him.

Syaoran shook his head slightly. "It tingled, and I felt...weak."

"An unfamiliar feeling, I'm sure." Sakura teased as she began to massage that particular spot. "It's just a little tight - you're all knotted up here-"

Syaoran winced when she hit the center of his bruise. "A little gentler, would you?"

"Sorry." She immediately retracted her hands, and Syaoran regretted speaking out. He left his ice pack on his lap, forgotten.

"How do you know all this?" Syaoran asked curiously.

"I've experienced it." Sakura responded truthfully, purposefully omitting the fact that she only experienced it while training at the Alices' Academy. It was an only Elites technique, anyway. She leaned forward to look at the bruise again. "To be fair, I think they only use this kind of technique when they can't defeat you immediately."

Syaoran scoffed.

"Really." Sakura continued lightly, "That spot is close to where all the nerves converge, to shoot messages to your brain." Without thinking, she raised her hand to touch his neck again. She traced the bruise, and Syaoran didn't dare stop her. "If you hit it hard enough, it'll confuse the nervous system, and send signals both ways. So yeah, it leaves you feeling tingly and weak. It'll wear off eventually." Sakura nearly kicked herself then. Why did she have to talk so much? She veered back to the topic at hand. "See, it's only used to weaken the opponent, and buy them time. The Alices would only use it if they can't defeat you immediately and they're planning to make a quick escape, or something like that." And since we're talking about the Elites, here, you're pretty impressive if they can't defeat you immediately, Sakura wanted to add.

"How do you know all this?" Syaoran quietly asked, staring ahead to try to control his emotions.

See, this is why Sakura wanted to kick herself. She says too much, and they get suspicious. Calmly, she responded. "I've encountered the Alices way too many times. It helps me study them."

Syaoran nodded, refusing to look at her as he tried to even his breathing. The effect of a few extremely smooth fingers on his skin, honestly.

"If it makes you feel better," Sakura continued, tilting her head as she reluctantly lifted her fingers off his skin, "she probably just didn't have time to deal with you -" she lifted her eyes to look at him as Syaoran finally turned to look at her, "I mean, since you were such a worthy opponent."

Forget breathing normally, Syaoran couldn't seem to get his thoughts straight when she was this close to him. Sakura had leaned forward to look at his wound, and now she was mere centimeters from his face. "Yeah," He mumbled quietly, instinctively leaning forward. "It does make me feel a little better…"

Sakura forgot how to breathe. Though she looked frozen on the outside, on the inside, she was panicking. Being an Alice, her whole life, she's never had to kiss - and this would be her first - but it would be nice from a very attractive guy - wait, _being an Alice. _She was an Alice! What was she thinking?

Just as Syaoran's lips were a millimeter from hers, she quickly (and reluctantly) turned away. Seeing the quick movement, Syaoran immediately leaned back, refraining a disappointed sigh.

_Now_ it was awkward.

The minutes dragged on, and Sakura was too shaken to get up and leave. She wanted to mend the situation somehow, but she didn't know how.

"It was The Woman." Syaoran blurted suddenly, not looking at her.

"What?" Sakura was caught off guard.

"The one who attacked me. She was called The Woman." Syaoran settled back into the sofa. Now that they were on opposite ends of the sofa, he supposed he could try to look at her. "It all goes back to four years ago."

.

.

.

_Four years ago…_

_FBI Headquarters_

"Hi!" The young, recently promoted Senior FBI Agent marched into an old, unused conference room in the FBI headquarters in Manhattan. Obviously, he wasn't given priority. He glanced around the room. On one side sat Natsume Hyuuga, FBI rookie with an alleged cold heart, and Syaoran Li, another rookie from MIA. At least they were the top of the class. On the other side sat Hotaru Imai, whom he had the pleasure to experiencing her cold heart first hand, and Eriol Hiiragizawa, apparently a deviant MIA agent. "Everyone," he announced with a flourish - and by everyone, he meant four people - "We're going to beat down the Alices."

There was a long, long silence.

"That's not funny." Hotaru monotonously stated.

"Okay, I know it sounds, mehh," Narumi made a noise, waving his hand in the air and shrugging. "Cause you know, there's five of us, and three of which are fresh out of the academy - or whatever the training program is called - and one of which is old -"

"You're thirty f-" Hotaru tried to cut in.

"Don't!" Narumi held up a hand, with a panicked expression. Schooling his features, he moved on, "and I know the Alices are like a major criminal organization and super cult-like and convert people to the dark side as fast as Hades transports people to Hell - BUT!" And he held up his index finger, frighteningly cheerful about this, "I picked all of you because you're all eager to do stuff and will try really hard to make an impact on the world!"

"But if we fail, the rest of our career is ruined." Hotaru stated bluntly. "Before it even started."

"Well…" Narumi thought about it, then turned to him with a grin, "yes! But if you succeed, your career will," and he motioned very steep uphill with his hand. "You know? It's not _that_ big of a deal." Narumi spoke in a convincing tone; though it's not like the agents have a choice in the matter anyway. "We're just trying to make a dent in their dastardly evil plans…or like a cork stop…" He looked around at all the blank expression. "You can do that, right?"

"I can do anything." Syaoran was proud and on top of the world then.

"-until he goes out onto the field." Eriol coughed. Narumi, whether or not he had done it on purpose, had picked the two MIA agents who were rivals. Addressing Narumi, he sat forward, "You've hired a tosser."

"Like you can do any better; picking fights in the middle of a mission-"

"-You started it!"

"You're a git." Syaoran scowled.

"And there you go again!"

"You're both immature." Natsume stated decisively, as if that was supposed to end their bickering.

"Oh, so he _does_ talk." Syaoran frowned thoughtfully.

"At least he knows when to stop babbling about their nonexistent skills." Eriol prodded the other MIA agent.

Syaoran frowned darkly. "What kind of dimwit idea was it to put us in the same team?"

"Americans." Eriol rolled his eyes.

"Ameri_can_. Excuse you." Hotaru growled.

Narumi laughed nervously, cutting in between the four who looked ready to bicker. "So, anyway, I'm calling this Esprit De Corps."

"Spirit of a group." Hotaru monotonously stated as if she was a living, breathing dictionary. (And she probably was).

"That's ironic." Syaoran muttered.

"Never mind spirit," Eriol added, leaning forward curiously to glance between Hotaru and Natsume, "do you two have a soul? At all?"

"No, I mean, the case." Narumi cut in, waving his arms about to get their attention. "I'm referring to the Alices."

"Oh, good." Syaoran breathed a sigh of relief, "I wouldn't want to be caught mingling with these dolts."

"I think," Narumi spoke up again, loudly and paired with a disturbingly high pitched laugh, "we're jumping into conclusions a little too quickly."

"He doesn't even talk." Syaoran gestured to Natsume as if that was supposed to prove a point.

Natsume turned around lazily to look at them, pointing his middle finger at them.

"Oh," Eriol sat back in surprise, "so we're whipping those little bastards out now are we?"

"Perfect!" Narumi clapped loudly, not at all to ease up the tension at the table. "looks like you will all get along splendidly!"

"He's bonkers." Syaoran rolled his eyes. And for once, the other three agreed.

.

.

.

The Alices Headquarters weren't in London, then. It was in America; a proud and strong building in the middle of Chicago.

"Training?" The four-years-younger Sakura repeated incredulously. What? She was an Elite, that was as far as the Academy went in training. "Sorry, did you say training?"

"Yes, Sakura." The Master clicked his tongue impatiently. "Training." He waved his hand at Persona.

Taking the cue, Persona stepped forward. "You will be training for the next few years for a specific skill set. This skill set will be taught by many of the best hired guns around the world." With a sardonic smile, he commented, "The Academy can only do so much." He nodded towards the door at the far end of the room. "Your transportation is waiting for you along with your belongings for the next few years. The private jet is yours. First thing you'll learn is to fly so you can get your own plane. After your training is complete, your next teacher and his location will be sent to your phone." Sakura swore Persona was grinning madly now. "Some...you'll have to convince." He didn't elaborate on how.

Under hired guns...Sakura let the information sink in. "My specific skillset...a trained assassin?"

"Yes, simply put." Persona was surprisingly patient with her. "more, since you're an Elite. By the way, your new codename is The Princess. Sakura, The Poison Blossom, or The Unicorn or whatever bullshit codename," He scowled in disdain, "you have right now no longer exists. You are now The Princess. You should be honored." And he said this in the most point-blank way possible. Sakura didn't feel honored, she felt weighed down. "You're going to be higher ranked than Elites. You're going to under Kuonji and I."

The Master rose his eyebrows, coughing.

"And I'm under the almighty Kuonji of course." Persona quickly amended.

"The Princess." Sakura repeated. This was a lot to put on a 19-year-old's shoulders.

"Yes." Persona paused before delivering the bad news. "There is one condition. All communication between you and the rest of the Alices are hereby cut. The messages from me should be the only communication you have outside of your training."

Sakura opened her mouth to protest - not even her best friend, Mikan? Where was Mikan nowadays, anyway?

"No one." Persona growled before she could even say a word.

"Okay, okay," Sakura slumped in defeat. It's not like she could refuse the offer anyway. "Could I at least say bye?"

"No."

"Or leave a message?"

"No."

"Just like a...letter."

"No."

"Are they even gonna know?"

"No." Persona crossed his arms. "Everyone will think you went on a mission and never came back."

"And this random person called The Princess just came out of nowhere." Sakura responded sarcastically.

"Attitude!" Persona yelled at her, causing the young adult to jump. "Are you done?" He didn't even wait for her to speak before pointing towards the door. "Follow those set of stairs and take the first door to your left."

Sakura opened her mouth, and seeing that she was about to say something, Persona growled, "out!"

Sulking, the young adult dragged herself in the direction he instructed her.

When the door closed, Kuonji chuckled. "Trying to defy authority," He snorted, "how cute."

"I had the situation under control." Persona quickly defended himself.

"Yes, I know." Kuonji smiled briefly, "very adequate display of power."

With the grin on Persona's face, he might as well have praised Persona's way of living life.

.

.

.

_Present Day_

"As the months passed by, we actually did a pretty good job." Syaoran smiled proudly, looking reminiscently into the distance. "We were reckless, they said, but the risks we took...let's just say we were lucky they worked in our favor." He let out a small smile. "Yeah, we were lucky Narumi was real good at picking people. We didn't all get along at first, but by the end I guess we flipped the tables on the Alices. _We_ had Esprit De Corps, and they, well, we hoped they fell apart."

Sakura couldn't hold in her snort.

Surprisingly, Syaoran amiably agreed. "Yeah," he chuckled, "we hoped. But I think we succeeded mostly - if not 90 percent - due to The Woman. She was a mole within the Alices organization. For her safety, we codenamed her The Woman, and nobody but Narumi was supposed to know who she really is."

"But everyone finds out anyway." Sakura guessed.

"Of course, Hotaru had to go find out." Syaoran responded truthfully. "She wouldn't tell us. Whatever. Natsume didn't even know who she was and he fell in love with her."

"Really?" Sakura gasped, the romantic inside of her jumping in excitement.

Syaoran glanced at her oddly.

"I'm a romantic at heart." She defended herself.

The Brit rolled his eyes, boredly stating, "It was all mysterious and 'she's an enigma, how fascinating, let's get infatuated' kind of thing."

"Wow," Sakura sat back with a playful frown. "Way to un-romanticize it."

Syaoran rolled his eyes. "Women." He muttered under his breath.

Sakura frowned at him, but eagerly pushed on. "So when did everyone else find out?"

Syaoran shrugged. "sometime between the past few years Natsume found out. Her name's Mikan." Syaoran didn't see Sakura's jaw drop speechlessly. She quickly tried to school her features as he continued, "I found out just this morning. And you," He turned to smile charmingly at Sakura, who tried to hold back a blush. "you found out before Eriol. Congratulations."

Sakura laughed. "What an honor." She leaned forward, like a child wanting to hear the happily ever after. "So how did you do it? Crush the Alices or whatever?"

Syaoran turned in his seat to face her with a wide grin on his face.

.

.

.

_Four Years Ago_

_FBI Headquarters_

Narumi stood at the forefront of their now newly furnished conference room. (Yeah, FBI finally saw some value in them). "Shut down all their bank accounts?"

"Check."

"Seized all their businesses and made them all go bankrupt?"

"Check."

"Taken down their suppliers?"

"Check."

"Frozen all their assets?"

"Check."

"Okay," Narumi looked up, smiling from ear to ear. "We're ready for our final battle."

"Taking their headquarters down." Eriol grinned wolfishly, holding up their equipment.

"Nothing could go wrong." Syaoran grinned back.

It was smiles all around.

.

.

.

_(Still) Four Years Ago_

_Alices Headquarters_

The Master sighed, placing his chin in his hand. Boredly, he asked, "so when are the little ants gonna try to ambush us or whatever?"

Persona refrained from turning to look at the Master. How is he not worried at all? "In a few days." Persona responded evenly.

"And your information is reliable?"

"Yes," Persona smiled darkly. "It is." He nodded at one of the Alices guarding the doors. "In fact, I was about to bring in my source."

"Ooh." The Master grinned, sitting back in his chair and swinging his feet. He was acting like a little boy about to get candy.

Two Alices dragged in a tall adult. His flowy blond hair was slick with sweat and even some splatters of blood, his body cut up and bruised. He looked up, revealing light blue eyes filled with terror and dread.

"What's his name?" The Master leaned towards Persona.

"Narumi." Persona answered, smiling darkly at the man.

"Ah." The Master nodded, a foreboding grin on his face. "Hello, Narumi."

It was the darkest, most chilling greeting Narumi has ever heard.

.

.

.

_Present day_

"At the time, we didn't know." Syaoran explained. "We still don't know what went wrong, how the Alices survived. We thought we stripped them of all their resources. We thought we got them." He frowned. "I guess they knew we were coming and they let us think we got them. I don't know how but…" He leaned forward determinedly. "We should've seen it. Our first clue was - remember The Woman, right? She went missing. Just off the grid. We had everything set up, witness protection and all that, and we had a meeting place for her to start her life over. She didn't show up. We tried contacting her, looking for her - everything."

Sakura leaned forward too, engrossed in his words.

"One month later," Syaoran sighed, looking up to meet her eyes. "Narumi found her in the hospital, barely alive. Apparently, she lost her memory. She doesn't who she is." Syaoran paused here, clenching his fists in frustration. "That should've been our first clue. We should've known then. Obviously, showing up barely alive and wiped of her memory couldn't have been some kind of freak accident or self-inflicted."

"It's okay, Syaoran." Sakura tried to comfort him. "You didn't - none of you could've seen it coming. You thought the Alices were destroyed."

Syaoran sighed. "Narumi knew her first name, Mikan, and she picked a last name, Sakura. She still has some muscle memory skills, ish, so CIA took her in."

"She chose the dangerous life, after all? That could've been her blank slate. She could've gone and done anything." Sakura spoke, trying to digest it all. She frowned, there was still a gap in the story. Was Mikan faking amnesia and going undercover for Master or did she really lose her memory? If it's the latter, then how did Mikan go from working for the CIA to coming back to the Alices? Sakura just welcomed Mikan back to the Alices six months ago. Sakura wondered what Mikan did for the CIA.

"Yeah," The Brit nodded. "Far as I know."

.

.

.

Sakura paced about in her apartment's living room. She made an excuse to leave, so she could go home and meet Tsubasa. She sure wasn't happy about it, though. "Tell me it's not true." Sakura paced, her steps echoing concern, frustration, and anger. "Four years ago - tell me Mikan didn't commit treason."

Tsubasa didn't say a word, his head bowed as he sat sullenly on her couch.

"How is she still alive now?" Sakura threw up her hands. "Master showed a little mercy after all?"

"Mercy would've let her die, instead of torturing her for an entire month, Sakura. Master gave her a second chance. It was the perfect opportunity for him." Tsubasa looked up bitterly, "It wasn't mercy. She survived because she fit into his plans."

"Second chance?" Sakura furrowed her eyebrows, stopping just in front of him. "What are you talking about? So did she go undercover at the CIA?"

"Not now," Tsubasa waved dismissively. "How's Nobara doing?"

"What do you mean how's Nobara -" Sakura sank down on the couch next to him angrily, "she's dead!"

"What?" Tsubara whirled around to look at her.

"She started spilling the beans. She told them his name, Tsubasa. His _name_. How did you not think Master was going to order her executed?"

"Because she's - Nobara - she's valuable." It was apparent Tsubasa was still wrapping his mind around it. "She's the lawyer."

"You told her to talk to him, didn't you?" Sakura crossed her arms. "Why?"

"Eventually, she was going to spill anyway," He mumbled in response, not meeting her eyes. "it'd be better the information gets to the right people - you'll look good too, and -"

"Bullshit!" Sakura crossed her arms. "What are you trying to pull?"

"It was just passing information. I didn't think they were going to kill her, okay?" He met her eyes this time, but it didn't pass through her head that he was avoiding her question. "I guess they didn't care the cost -"

"Tsubasa!" Sakura was so close to grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him. "You're an Elite, the top of the Alices pyramid, you can't have secret agendas!"

"Don't you think I know that?" Tsubasa yelled back. He dragged a hand down his face. "Okay, look. Not a word of this to anyone, you hear? That phone call didn't happen. Nobara divulged information because she wanted to. Because they forced it out of her."

Sakura paused. "Doesn't Master track our calls sometimes?"

"Who do you think is in charge of that?" Tsubasa rolled his eyes.

"You." Sakura breathed in realization. "Oh. That's convenient."

"Our calls should be secure." He responded lightly. "But always be cautious."

.

.

.

When Sakura arrived back at the MIA headquarters, she went straight to the conference room.

The Americans froze when she walked in, their eyes turning to Natsume for guidance.

Syaoran rose both his eyebrows. Suddenly, he felt protective of the newcomer. He stood up quickly, speaking out. "She knows."

Natsume turned to him with a wrinkled forehead.

"I told her about four years ago." Syaoran tried to speak as casually as possibly, shrugging. "There's no point hiding it from her. We're not going to move on otherwise."

The two had a long staring match. Natsume seemed to be contemplating the action. With a slight frown, he sat down, uttering a single word. "Fine."

Syaoran nodded slightly at the man, and sat down himself. He didn't look at Sakura, or her grateful smile.

Yuu watched the interaction with a thoughtful look on his face. He's been keeping this inside for a while, not quite finding the right opportunity to voice his thoughts. Perhaps now is the time.

"There's something you should know."

The team glanced up in surprise to find a serious Yuu. The team immediately gave him their full attention.

"I've been thinking about this. It's an important puzzle piece." Yuu sat down heavily. He looked at the conference table as if the puzzle was actually right in front of him. For him, maybe it was. He placed his hand on an imaginary puzzle piece and dragged his fingers across the smooth glass. "Four years ago with Esprit De Corps, Narumi brought the team together and he bet on them. Of course, they didn't think a group of four rookies could succeed so they let him wager the most outrageous idea." Using his other hand, Yuu did the exact same thing, putting the puzzle pieces together. "The idea was called The A Team. Unlimited budget, hand-picked team, including Natsume and Hotaru, and Narumi in charge of it all."

"So the A Team was born from the success of Esprit De Corps." Sakura began to see the puzzles fit together. "The A Team was born from the apparent downfall of the Alices four years. That's why they wanted you publicly humiliated, records erased -"

"Destroyed." Yuu finished for her. "Exactly." He then pushed his adjacent hands forward as if shifting the puzzle forward. "Which brings us to now. Destroying The A Team was half of Esprit De Corps, the other half -"

"Syaoran and Eriol." Sakura exclaimed, glancing to the said MIA agents. The weight of their impending doom dawned on their dark faces. Sakura hid a grim frown. She now understood the full meaning of her Alices mission. "The first attack - it was a warning."

Nonoko smiled at her boyfriend proudly. She looked up at Sakura. "That's why we call him our thinker."

But Sakura wasn't paying attention. She stared intently at the conference table as if it really had a puzzle on it. There was one more missing piece. "I still don't understand what happened six months ago. How was it carried out? The destruction of the A Team?"

Yuu looked to Natsume now, who didn't look up at her. With a deep frown, the A Team leader emitted in his deep voice, "another day."

Sakura repressed a sigh. Another day, another 'do you trust me yet?' hoop to jump through.

Deciding not to dwell on it, Sakura turned to one of the MIA agents. "Eriol, you're back." She smiled cheerfully at him. "You look well."

"I feel well." Eriol straightened, rubbing his abdomen. "It was only a few stitches."

"Fifty four." Syaoran coughed.

Eriol smiled slightly. "Yes, Tomoyo made a big fuss over it." He turned his eyes to the rest of the team, "speaking of, she's stoked about making cool gadgets for you all. I believe her words were, 'Finally some fun ladies to experiment on!'" At their faces, he laughed heartily. "Alright, maybe I paraphrased."

Sakura finally noticed what Eriol was doing. With furrowed eyebrows she glanced at Hotaru, who was standing beside Eriol, in surprise. "Is that -"

"Ah, yes. The microchip." Eriol turned back to the laptop in front of him, towering over it. "We broke through the first few barriers. It's quite a heavy encryption. There's an encryption over everything, honestly. An encryption to look inside its contents. An encryption to see that there's only one file. And we're still battling the encryption to open the bloody file."

"You-you let him…" Sakura was looking at Hotaru but the American stubbornly refused to meet her eyes.

"You know what they say," Koko laughed nervously, looking between a stubbornly frowning Hotaru and a stunned Sakura. "the more brains the merrier! Ha ha…"

"Uh huh…" Sakura nodded slowly. She watched as Eriol typed some, frowned, then looked to Hotaru.

Hotaru scowled, pointing to certain parts of the code filling the entire screen. Eriol brightened, exclaiming, "of course!"

Sakura thought back to her days at the Academy. She let a reminiscent smile rest peacefully on her face. If their suspicions were correct - that Mikan made the microchip and gave it to Natsume, then Sakura should be able to beat her encryption. They took the same classes at the Alices Academy anyway. Especially Encryptions 101, and she remembered it well because Yuka taught that class.

The bright smile was gone in a second, Eriol shook his head. Sakura glimpsed over his shoulder. "Can I try?"

Finally, Hotaru turned to look at her with a frown. She contemplated the thought, but Eriol had obliviously already moved aside for the Interpol agent. Cheerfully, he brought her up to speed with what they were doing.

At least Hotaru wasn't complaining or strongly forbidding Sakura from touching her laptop.

"This is more advanced than I've ever…" Sakura trailed off. Eriol was right. It was an encryption under an encryption - it was like beating different locked doors, but finding door after door after door. When - _where_ - did Mikan learn such a complex encryption?

After an hour of much collaboration between Sakura, Eriol, and Hotaru, they hit gold. Sort of.

"We've only got audio." Sakura frowned, typing some more, then letting her hands rest by her side in defeat.

"That's good enough." Hotaru stated.

Though her voice was cold, Sakura looked up at her with surprised orbs. A smile floated across her face. That was good enough for her too.

"Alright, listen up." Natsume called to the team to the table.

The team gathered around the conference table, sitting down, as Sakura stepped back, leaning against the far wall. Once everyone's settled, Natsume gave Hotaru a nod. Hotaru reached forward and pressed play.

"_They've thrown our backs against the wall!"_

"_There has to be something - anything."_

"_Run?"_

"_How? Where? They've got us."_

_"No...no, we have one more option."_

"_And what's that?"_

"_Hide in plain sight."_

"_Are you sure?"_

"_They'll never see it coming."_

The static voices came out of a laptop, resting innocently in the middle of a conference table. It was obviously tampered with, both completely encrypted and undecipherable. Ten agents sat solemnly around the table.

Natsume Hyuuga. Hotaru Imai. Yuu Tobita. Nonoko Ogasawara. Anna Umenomiya. Kokoro Yome. Kitsuneme. Mochiage - also known as Mochu. Syaoran Li. Eriol Hiiragizawa.

Yuu was the one who finally spoke up. "What could the Alices possibly be hiding in plain sight?"

Nobody noticed Sakura shift uncomfortably from her position on the far wall. What was Mikan playing at?

.

.

.

**A/N:** It's been exactly a month. I'm sorry, I really am. I got distracted by my CCS fic, **24**, which is action and stuff like this too.

For those waiting for NatsuMikan moments: I gave it to you. I did! (shifty eyes)

Just for clarification: Sakura's explanation of the bruise on Syaoran's neck is _not at all_ biologically or scientifically supported. _It is entirely fictional, unrealistic, and did I mention fictional?_

Also, remind me never again to take reader suggestions because writing those scenes was actually a struggle. (Not being inspired and all.) Really sorry, sapphireangel09, I might disappoint.

.

.

.

The reporter stood as the celebrities passed by on the red carpet. "There's Mr. and Mrs. Hiiragizawa….Oh look! Mikan Sakura on the arm of Natsume Hyuuga!" Stepping over gracefully - or as gracefully as an eager reporter would look, the reporter enthusiastically greeted the actor and actress.

After the introductions, she launched into her questions. "So, Mikan, is it true you kind of 'gate-crashed' the In Plain Sight set?"

Natsume rolled his eyes at the question and Mikan laughed sheepishly. "Well, what happened was…"

"_**Marker!" A film set assistant holds the clapperboard in front of the camera, slamming it shut.**_

"It looks like a stone." Koko finally spoke up to get her attention.

"Yes, but he's held it up to the light plenty of times." Hotaru still hadn't looked up. "He knows there's something weird about it." When she finally lifted her head, she looked at Natsume. "It's not a stone."

After a moment of contemplation, Natsume reached under his shirt to take it out again. He twisted it between his index and thumb. But instead of looking at it, he spotted something past the camera, and began to stare.

"Uh, you're looking in the wrong direction, buddy." Came a voice from off-camera, identified to be the director.

When Natsume didn't react to the voice, the directo walked onto the scene while throwing her arms up. "Hello? Earth to Natsume?" She followed his gaze to the main doors. Upon spotting the cheerful brunette pulling along a small boy about half her height, the director let her arms hang by her side. Addressing the newcomer, she raised her voice to cover the few hundred feet between them, "Mikan, what are you doing here?" She checked her watch, "I don't need you until the next episode."

"I wanted to come early to watch." Mikan grinned, bounding over eagerly.

"With your kid?"

"He's not my kid!" Mikan rolled her eyes. "We've been over this." She shook her arm whose hand was clasped with the little boy's. "His name's Youichi. Little Youichi."

The director groaned quietly. "I love kids. Especially when they're on set." She droned. "So they can run around and mess up everything."

The other actors and actresses are already walking out of their positions and surrounding the newcomer. Koko grinned. "HEY MIKAN! You missed us, didn't you?"

Mikan nodded, "I missed filming with you guys!"

"Nah, she missed me." Natsume sat back smugly as he crossed his arms.

"No, I didn't!" Mikan responded a little too quickly. She held out her right hand, which was clasped with little Youichi's so that little Youichi stumbled forward. The little boy stared wide-eyed at Natsume. "He did."

Natsume looked down at the boy with a raised eyebrow. "Does he even remember my name?"

"Natsu-me!" The little boy cutely interjected before Mikan could even respond.

Meanwhile, the director was seen rubbing her forehead and muttering beneath her breath. Something along the lines of, "Lord have mercy…another actress, another headache…" After releasing a long breath, she raised her voice so that it traveled across the set. "What is this, a reunion party? C'mon, it's a freaking set, let's shoot. I've had a long week."

"But…" Mikan pouted at the director, who only stared blankly at her. Little Youichi looked up at his caretaker, then at the director. When he looked up at his caretaker again, he mirrored her look.

The director stared blankly at the little boy's wide green eyes, pouty lips, and puffy cheeks. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Shaking her head, she walked off, "whatever." Her next words were drowned out by the cheers of the actors and actresses while the set hands and film assistants stared at each other and shrugged. The director raised her right arm and whirled it once around the air, signalling to the film assistants to wrap it up.


	6. His Name Is Kuonji

"His name is Kuonji." Mochu threw his hands up. "His name is _bloody _Kuonji!"

The eleven members of the team were spread out around the conference room. Some sat on the table, some laid on the floor. There were boxes on the table, the floor, laptops scattered, and food. The team had to ask Rika to bring in a second trash can, or dustbin as they called it, for their take-out containers.

"Please don't." Syaoran shoved his face in his hands. It was nearly four in the morning and none of the team had been able to go home to rest. Not that they had much rest the night before either. After that puzzling audio clip, they've been working their butt off trying to piece together all they can on Nobara's ambiguous clues.

"I think he likes the culture here." Oh, the ever optimistic Eriol.

"He's just experimenting," Anna assured them, "you know how he likes to mix his accents and slang and such."

"And I thought mixing 'y'all' with 'yo, homie' was bad enough." Kitsuneme groaned as Anna patted him reassuringly in the back.

"Whose bloody name is bloody Kuonji?!" Mochu raved on obliviously. "And why couldn't she have bloody been less bloody indirect!"

"I don't think you could fit enough bloody's in one sentence." Syaoran commented dryly.

Mochu, finally seeing light, whirled to him. He was on a roll. "You're a...a…" He checked his phone, sadly with the list of British terms on it, "bloke!"

"Really? I never realized that I was actually, you know, a guy." He responded, oddly finding his eyes wandering to an extremely amused Sakura trying to stifle in her laughter. She might just choke on her sleeve instead. When her eyes met him, she froze. "A single guy." Syaoran was blurting out all sorts of things - he blamed it on his lack of sleep.

"Subtle." Eriol sniggered, earning a lazy kick from his partner.

Sakura looked caught in his gaze but her attention was diverted when Mochu continued. She couldn't dissolving in more laughter, nearly chewing her sleeve.

"- a prat! Prick!" Mochu quickly corrected himself, completely ignoring both Koko and Kitsuneme next to him banging their heads on the table.

"I think Mochu needs some sleep." Nonoko called out tiredly, rubbing her own eyes.

"I think it's very entertaining." Eriol chirped happily.

Back to his rant, Mochu paced around the room unhappily. "His name is Kuonji. Why can't she bloody say 'and here's the address', Merry Christmas."

"It's no where near Christmas, Mochu." Kitsuneme lifted his head tiredly.

"Then happy fucking Hanukkah!" Mochu threw up his arms.

Simultaneously, Koko and Kitsuneme slapped their foreheads then dragged their hands down their face.

"How much coffee did he have?" Hotaru finally looked up from the three laptops in front of her, frowning semi-amusedly at her teammate. She glanced briefly at the umpteenth cup of black coffee in front of her, now cold.

"None." Yuu answered quietly. Being an organized person, Yuu converted the glass conference table into some sort of white board. With an erasable marker, he drew all over it; he created lists, diagrams, he taped pictures, cut-outs at the appropriate spots. Across the length of the table, he drew a timeline. "It was the Redbull." He pointed with half-lidded eyes at the large pile of empty Redbull cans in the corner.

"Good Lord!" Eriol exclaimed, throwing a newspaper into the pile behind him dramatically. He was tasked to sift through newspapers from ages ago. Sometimes, the news actually cover something important without knowing it. "That can't be healthy!"

Kitsuneme placed the last folder in one of two piles in front of him. The pile on the left was standing tall and wobbling dangerously. The pile on the right contained at most three folders. It least it was three thick folders. Not surprisingly, the pile on the right was the 'related or at least I think it is' pile. He leaned forward to look in the box before him. With a grin, he saw that the box was empty. He stood, stretching his arms wide. "I FINISHED A BOX!"

"Congratulations!" Unexpectedly, it was a new voice that acknowledged his accomplishment.

Kitsuneme thanked the newcomer, cheerfully handing the files to Yuu.

Tomoyo strolled in the room, and the team noticed her without much alarm. They were used to her appearances now. Approaching the sleep-deprived Eriol, she greeted warmly,"Good morning, Eriol."

"Is it morning already?" Eriol asked as he swiveled around in his chair to face his fiance. He smiled at her before leaning in for a quick kiss.

"Mhm." Tomoyo handed him one of the two cups of tea in her hands. Eriol placed his on the table, then proceeded to grab hers and place it on the table too. With a soft smile, he pulled her to sit on his lap.

"The bed missed you." Tomoyo commented as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "It's been two nights."

"Just the bed?" Eriol asked with a knowing grin.

"I'm so single." Mochu groaned. He turned to his right, "Sakura -"

Quickly, Sakura stood up with her laptop, "Yuu! I have some - uh, stuff...for you." She exclaimed, walking rapidly away from Mochu and towards the said American.

Yuu was the organizer. The team handed him the files once they were done, so he could fit it into his timeline and charts. Of course, to make his job easier, they often circle important parts of the files, or highlighted them.

Mochu looked back down at his box of stuff, throwing files left and right with an extra huff. Syaoran, who saw the interaction, was oddly smiling at the air while he did his own research.

Tomoyo and Eriol were just wrapping up. "I better see you at home tonight, mkay?" Tomoyo muttered, patting her fiance on the chest. He nodded, handed her her cup of tea back. She ambled off cheerfully.

Sakura yawned, stretching. She was tasked to go through all Interpol files, obviously, since she 'has access'. Of course, she had to call Tsubasa and get the Alices tech team to hack into Interpol (without being detected). Wanting to look useful, she decided to put together some unimportant details that were found in the Interpol files.

At six in the morning, Mochu was lying on the ground. If his mouth had been open, he would've been eating the soft carpet of the conference room. Since the team banned him from anymore cans of Redbull, he was forced to crash only an hour later. It was fine time for the whole team to crash, too, for they had finally sifted through the final few boxes, piles, and research.

At six in the morning, Yuu was standing on a chair, his arms crossed, looking over his masterpiece of a conference table. The rest of the team were unfortunately pushed to the ground as every last centimeter of the glass table were being overrun by erasable marker. There were even paper and newspaper clippings hanging off the sides.

Natsume and Hotaru stood on either side of Yuu, also looking over the information. Natsume patted Yuu's tired back, and Hotaru smiled a small one.

"Alright, listen up!" Natsume hollered. Anna perked up suddenly, shaking her head to rid herself of the drowsiness. She nudged Nonoko, who slowly blinked sleep away. Kitsuneme fell off his chair at the sound of Natsume's voice. Sakura rubbed her eyes sleepily. Eriol straightened his back. Syaoran lifted his head from his arm, and instead placed his chin in his hand.

Using a meter stick, Natsume extended his long arm to poke at a snoring Koko. He was sitting with his head lolled back, his mouth open. Natsume mercilessly slapped him across the face with the meter stick. Koko's head moved in that direction, he blinked blearily, looking around in confusion.

After staring at a motionless Mochu for a full minute, Kitsuneme and Koko decided to drag him off the floor - gross, is that a puddle of drool? - and unceremoniously dump him on a chair.

"His name is Kuonji." Natsume announced, handing off the meter stick to Yuu.

"Right." Yuu smiled tiredly, pointing the meter stick at the beginning of his timeline. "so. Yeah. Let's start with the timeline…."

.

.

.

**In Plain Sight**

_**Aspirator**_

.

.

.

**1 9 6 3**

.

.

.

Masaki Amamiya was the leader of the Amamiya crime family, who owned every dark alley, crook, and cranny in Chicago. He was The Godfather of Chicago, the Al Capone of the sixties, you name it.

Masaki strolled through the open doors of his Chicago mansion, giving one of his henchman his hat and coat. He walked with a firm, powerful gait, and always donned a gentle smile that betrayed his cunning mind.

As soon as his entrance was announced, a woman with long beautiful hair wearing an elegant silk robe to her ankles appeared from the upstairs bedroom. Masaki immediately grinned at the sight of his wife, barely containing his excitement as he leaped up the grand staircase.

"How is she?" Masaki asked as soon as he reached his significant other.

"Energetic as always." The wife smiled softly, her arm instinctively wounding around his as she led him into the nursery. The stopped just short of the crib containing a giggling baby.

"Nadeshiko." He smiled fondly down at her as she played with her baby toys. She blinked her wide, innocent soft green eyes up at her father. "She'll be a legend."

. . .

Following the second World War, America started closing down orphanages. The orphanage where Yuka and Kaoru met happened to be the last remaining institution - mainly due to its owner trying to save her establishment by privatizing her business. Thankfully, due to the owner's commitment and many wealthy supporters, the orphanage has survived more than twenty years past others.

The plump, motherly woman walks amidst twenty or so cribs in the large nursery of the orphanage. She held a baby in her arms, hushing it and swaying the baby side to side to placate the baby's nerves.

The other caretakers in the nursery were putting the other babies to bed. Some looked up curiously as the woman walked in. But the woman paid no heed, she headed straight for the one thin and tall caretaker by the end of the room.

"Where did you find her?" The caretaker asked in hushed tones as she set up the empty crib for the baby to sleep in.

"The front door - someone dropped her off." The woman responded in a hushed tone. "Her name's Yuka."

"Is that it?" The caretaker asked, placing the last layer of blankets in the crib. Sometimes when people drop off unwanted babies, they leave a note. Sometimes, the babies are found in the streets, abandoned.

The woman nodded, gently placing the sleepy baby in the crib.

The caretaker gently tucked more blankets on top of the baby. She smiled with finality, admiring her handiwork. She glanced at the woman next to her. "I've put her right next to Kaoru." She stated, referring to the baby in the crib to the right.

"They'll get along just splendidly." The woman responded. They had no idea the years of mischief that will follow.

. . .

"SHUT YOUR NASTY LITTLE MOUTH!" Shouted a plump, red face - half the size of the fragile boy in front of her - belonging to the said boy's mother. She stood up to her full height, towering over the weak child. "Kuonji." She spit, as if the word itself was dirt beneath her feet.

"I need to pee!" The little boy whined in a small voice.

"I'll tell you when you need to pee, you little shit." The harsh, gravelly voice of the heavyweight mother slapped him across the face. She muttered insults as she walked away. She turned just as she rounded the kitchen island. "You move a muscle and I'm going to whoop your ass till you don't walk no more, you understand?"

Kuonji nodded shakily with a sniffle.

He bit his lip, crossing his toothpick legs. He tried, he tried so hard to keep it in. But he had no choice, he had no control over even his own bladder. Nature took its course.

The following week, he was locked in his room with no food nor bathroom breaks. A punishment worthy apparently because he 'made a fucking mess in the damn kitchen - I knew I didn't want children. And I end up with this bullshit.' and she went on, but at this point Kuonji learned to tune her out. Mostly.

If only Kuonji could control his bladder. If only he could control when he could eat and when he didn't want to. If only Kuonji had control.

But for now…Kuonji crawled around his bare room. He lifted the only other set of clothes he was privileged as he searched and searched for anything to eat - anything. Yesterday, he ate the spiders in his room in desperation. Today, there was nothing. And he would've eaten his pants were they not his only other pair. His search was in vain. He looked outside the window. His thin, fragile fingers shivered as they traced the frosted over glass. It was nearly thirty degree fahrenheit (or zero degrees celsius in his room), but it was even colder outside. He eyed the snow resting peacefully on the window sill hungrily.

Kuonji winced immediately when a heavy hand clamped down on his shoulder. His body reacted automatically, bracing itself for impact.

He was thrown against the far wall of his room. He tuned out his mother's angry words as he rolled on the ground in pain. He blinked back tears as he touched his oddly angled forearm. He had to have broken a bone somewhere.

Kuonji looked up, watching his only possible escape and source of nutrition become blocked with wood and nails. He weighed his light, injured arm gently in his other hands as he crawled to the corner of his room. He didn't dare to whimper - or his mother may break his other arm.

.

.

.

**1 9 8 1**

.

.

.

For the Amamiya family, power comes at a price. The rival mobs and the Chicago authorities ganged up together to eliminate the entire family. Most of the Amamiya members died tragically in car bombs, fires, shoot outs, and so on. Nadeshiko herself watched her father die at the tender age of sixteen. His last few breaths were warnings and blessings for her to live on, to distance herself from the Amamiya name if she must.

So she did so. Nadeshiko Amamiya became a ghost. She became street smart as she travelled often. She had to earn a living, so she did what she had been taught to do since she could walk. She became a hired gun.

And that was what put her on MIA's top ten most wanted list.

At the rooftop just across a mobster leader's apartment building. Nadeshiko looked through the hole of her sniper gun. She watched as her target took off his hat and hung it on a hook by the door. He waved his guards away, sending them to stand in front of his door. He then sat on a couch, facing the window, and lit up a cigar.

Nadeshiko aimed straight for the man's temple. She waited until the smoke he puffed cleared, then she pulled the trigger.

She was disassembling the weapon as soon as the glass shattered across the street. They would be looking for her soon.

Just as Nadeshiko was putting away her sniper equipment, she heard quick and heavy footsteps in the stairwell behind her. She zipped up the bag hurriedly, then, seeing no other option, hopped over the edge of the roof -

And she landed right in the arms of Fujitaka Kinomoto, young MIA agent. He smiled warmly, "Hi there." He looked up at the edge of the roof, where a maintenance man who worked in the building peered over. "Thanks, buddy!" He yelled to the man, who gave him a thumbs up.

Nadeshiko looked at the rooftop, then into his warm chestnut eyes. "You-you tricked me."

"Well, it does take a fair amount of smart thinking to catch an intelligent woman." He responded smoothly. Nadeshiko frowned. Since both his arms were occupied carrying her weight, he couldn't possibly defend himself when she decides to make a run for it.

"Oh, no you don't -" Fujitaka voiced immediately, seeing the look in her eyes.

"And how are you going to stop me?" She uttered with a devious smile as she tried to hop off his arms.

Fujitaka reacted quickly, wrapping his arms around her again as soon as her feet hit the ground. She of course, twisted herself out of his grip - and seeing that he was going to lose the fight, he decided on the next best thing.

He kissed her. He pressed his soft lips against hers and she was acutely aware of his gentle touch down the sides of her arms to settle at her wrists.

When they parted, Nadeshiko blinked slowly, completely stunned. She looked down at her hands to find them handcuffed. She frowned. "Do you normally kiss one of MIA's most wanted fugitives?"

"No." Fujitaka cheerfully tightened the handcuffs. "Only the most beautiful one who lands in my arms."

"You know I killed more than one hundred people."

"Oh yes, I compiled the list." Fujitaka grinned proudly, a warm hand on the lady's back to help her stand.

"Uh huh." Nadeshiko nodded dumbly. She let him lead her along.

He stopped her at a point where he knew his fellow MIA agents will be picking him and her up. "I know that you'll be out of those handcuffs by the end of the hour and probably gone like the wind by the end of the day." Fujitaka continued, his smile slowly dropping by each word. Seriously, he turned to her. "So, I'll see you next time." His grin was back, and he winked, "maybe then I'll go for a french."

Nadeshiko tried very hard not to blush. Why do the MIA agents have to be so handsome?

_Two Months Later_

"Agent Kinomoto." The other line greeted amiably as Fujitaka held the cellular device up to his ear. Having a handheld mobile phone at the time was highly advanced, and of course, the MIA was on top of that.

"What's the situation with the The Wallflower?" Because nobody knew Nadeshiko's name, they invented a codename that involved her talent for blending in and revealing a killing method that's full of surprises.

"I don't know how you do it, Agent K. Once she's out of your hands, she turns into a slippery fish. We've got nothing on her."

"That's upsetting." Fujitaka sympathized with the man on the other line, though his tone of voice was anything but upset. He settled more comfortably into the brown leather sofa as he listened.

"Yeah, the director removed her from our MIA most wanted list."

"That so?" He sat up, so very interested.

"He said that it's obvious from the sixth time you've caught her and we've lost her that we're never gonna get her."

"What about all those payments you found? You talked to the bank, didn't you?"

"Oh, proof that the alias we know The Wallflower was under was getting paid? Yeah, well, see, they're all legitimate payments. Apparently, she's a model. A very highly paid model."

"Is she really?" Fujitaka chuckled lightly.

"I know, I've seen her, and boy, do I believe it."

Fujitaka chuckled, shaking his head. Of course the woman was careful. Even after hanging up, he was still chuckling. He looked up, straight into the shy, emerald eyes of the very woman he was speaking of. He stood up, a smile lingering on his face.

Nadeshiko watched him as he neared her, stopping only an arm's length away to remove her handcuffs from the bed post.

"Looks like we won't be needing this anymore." The Brit tucked the handcuffs away cheerfully, but kept a strong hold on the woman's small wrist.

She kept her gaze on him, trying hard to keep her cheeks from reddening. Nadeshiko asked the question she'd been dying to ask. "How did you know I was going to be here?"

Fujitaka smiled. "You have a pattern." He turned, bringing her with him, as his grip on her wrist was still strong. He walked on over to the bedside table where several picture frames were carefully set up. He picked one up, scanning over the faces. "Obviously you're well known and you get a lot of customers. You don't take the highest bidder," he turned to look at her curious eyes. "you take the dirtiest job. The child trafficker, the mob lord, the fraud. As my colleague so elegantly put it, your jobs are bordering on vigilante with a side of getting paid. Are you really a model?"

Nadeshiko shook her head dumbly. She could defeat the world's wrestling champion in physical combat but when she's in the presence of this one man, she couldn't even breathe normally.

"Shame." Fujitaka set the picture frame down. "If you were wondering, MIA took him already. The man you're supposed to kill. He's going to prison, just so you know." Gently, he let go of her wrist, turning fully to face her. "Since I won't be taking you to our London headquarters, and this might be the last time we'll see each other," he tried to keep the sadness out of his voice, he did. He let on a charming smile as he spoke the next sentence, "how about dinner? What's your name, by the way? As much as The Wallflower suits you, I'd like to address you by a real name."

And Nadeshiko blamed it on the charming smile, the warm gaze, and the musky British accent that she shyly told him her real name and let him take her out to dinner.

**. . .**

Despite their begging and protests, the abominable pair were separated to different foster homes. They promised to write, but it was hard, for each were rotated every so often.

When Kaoru was eleven, she was rotated into a warm, cheerful home with two other children. She was lucky, and she knew it. She had foster parents who weren't too poor and they loved her like one of their own.

When Yuka was twelve, she was coincidentally rotated into a foster home of two Russian sleeper agents. They figured adopting a child for a short while would solidify their mock appearance. Unexpectedly, the couple became fond of their deviant, mischievous foster child. When they were deported back to Russia, they decided to take her with them.

And so that was how Yuka became part of the KGB. She was perfect for recruitment; she grew up in the United States and her Russian foster parents got her an American passport.

"Fuck you, Izumi!" A female figure with long, dark blonde hair tied into a ponytail whisper-shouted at the tall man behind her. They were assigned as partners on a mission. Obviously, it was a very bad decision.

In fact, the only thing the pair had in common was that they were both very fluent English speakers. Izumi, her partner, also had American roots. Ironically, they were the best KGB agents of the period.

"If you'd please do me the honor, Yuka." The male responded sarcastically, turning to look at her so his eyes could roam over her body.

Seeing that, the woman made a swipe for his face, but he evaded it quickly. So she settled for, "Shut up, perv."

"Says the one yelling all over the place." He glanced at her with raised eyebrows, "you know this is supposed to be a covert op?"

Yuka glanced around the corner, ducking quickly to avoid bullets.

"See? All because of your loud voice."

"You're infuriating."

"We've been over this." He sing-songed.

Yuka peered out the door again, only to whirl back in, covering her head. "They're getting closer, dammit! Hurry up, Izumi!"

"I'm working on it." The man mumbled with a wire in his mouth, flicking switches and disconnecting wires here and there. Ignoring the sounds of heavy artillery and Yuka's whining, he worked swiftly and diligently for the next minute.

It paid off, for within a minute, he turned around to say, "Voila - whoa." Yuka had ran straight into him, causing the pair to crash against the wall of the maintenance closet.

"Well if you'd wanted to bang me, you could've just said so." Izumi spoke quietly in her ear, grinning wolfishly. It faltered when she got off of him with a disgusted expression.

Yuka, scowling, made a swipe at him again, but he caught both wrists, holding them away from himself.

"Keep your hands to yourself, missy." He gently set the hands by her side so he could access his gun tucked at the back of his pants. "This is neither the time nor the place to be groping."

"I'm gonna kill you."

"When we get out of this situation," Izumi peered out the crack in the door. "I promise you'll get your chance, mkay?"

**. . .**

A tall, elderly man with large spectacles, donning a white lab coat much too big for his frame, waited patiently by the entrance of the psychiatry ward. Soon enough, his guest arrives; a stiff looking man wearing a frayed charcoal suit. The guest shook hands with the psychologist in charge of the ward, exchanging the usual greetings. The pair begin to move through the facilities.

"What we do here is, uh, research mostly. We study these children who've been involved in traumatic crimes." The psychologist introduced, bringing the man past an open cafeteria and into some sort of living room.

"Traumatic crimes?" The guest frowned dubiously as his eyes passed over the flow of people.

"See the little boy with the nasty scar across his face?" The psychologist tilted his head forward to point out the play area of the ward, where many children are scattered amongst tables set up with board games. On one particular table was a teenage boy playing a complex mind game with another. The boy was facing them and the government official could easily discern the permanent scarring of tissue across his face.

"His name is Rei. Rei Serio." The psychologist told the man next to him quietly. "His father stabbed his mother fifty seven times in front of him. Then his father tried to kill the boy - now he was seven at the time - but luckily the authorities arrived in time. Hence the scars on his face. The scars inflicted on him mentally, you can imagine, is just as horrific."

The man standing next to the psychologist, however, was a skeptic of the relatively new psychological field. "He looks calm, collected, and very capable of proceeding normally in society; especially considering that he's playing what looks like a complex form of Chess."

The psychologist turned to look at his visitor in disbelief. "He has tantrums, sometimes, awful ones - and I've lost a lot of my nurses that way -"

"Everyone has tantrums." The man waved away the psychologist's persuasion attempt. "Can he read, write, communicate effectively?"

"I suppose...yes." The doctor reluctantly admits. The visitor turned away, observing the others as if his point was made. The pair stood there for a moment, observing as the pair of children stand up and move to another table with another board game. Finally, the doctor spoke up, "Do you see the boy he's playing with?"

The man nods affirmatively. The other boy was much smaller, with pale, scrawny arms, though he looked around the same age. He, too, had midnight black hair and solid raven eyes.

"His name is Kuonji." The doctor looks to the skeptic, making sure he's watching too. "Kuonji, I do not believe, can proceed normally in society."

"He looks incredibly capable."

"Kuonji, who'll be incredibly upset if he hears us, hates being referred by his name. In fact, the everyone now calls him Sir."

"Why, he's younger than most others here!" The man obviously finds it blasphemous how a younger could gain a respective connotation such as that.

"Yes. See, Kuonji has an incredibly interesting character. He's grown completely insensitive - no sense of sympathy or empathy at all. He has this obsession with control, where he's bordering on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder -"

"You know I don't believe in that sort of nons -"

"If you'll spend some time with him, you'll see -"

"Please." The skeptic stopped him there. There was a tense silence where the two men watched the children move around the ward. At last, the skeptic spoke up. "What are they doing?"

The psychologist turned to see Kuonji and Persona move again from one game table to another. It didn't matter if there were already children there playing. The two kids - mostly Kuonji - were apparently highly respected and the spots given up quickly to them.

"They keep moving from game to game." The government official furrowed his eyebrows.

"Yes," the psychologist hid a smile. So the man is interested after all. "Kuonji is an intelligent boy. But he is incredibly specific. He plays mind games, and mind games only. He plays them only once. He must win. If he does not win, he will not move from his spot until he's mentally figured out a way to beat the game in the most damning way possible."

"Play a game only once?"

The psychologist looked over at the boy. "He gets bored easily." he responded quietly. "Luckily, I have a friend who creates mind games such as those who have eagerly volunteered to help out. He finds it fascinating how quickly Kuonji learns and manipulates the games to his favor."

"What did you say was his trauma?"

The psychologist breathed out unevenly. "That's the interesting part. Kuonji here, at age thirteen - now we've had him here for a few years - convinced his own mother to take her life. Of course, this is all confidential, you understand."

"Convinced his -" The official stuttered. "Impossible. His mother obviously committed suicide in front of him."

"He has an unbelievable gift for persuasion." The psychologist eyed the boy as he interacted socially with the other children. "A penchant for leadership, as his need for control makes him out to be, and highly manipulative."

At this point, the visitor checked his watch. With a surprised frown, the government official turned to the man. "I'm on a schedule. If you'd like to wrap things up here quickly..."

"There's not much else to say, really." The psychologist led the man to his office. "As you can see, my patients can't be released without a -"

The other man didn't even wait for the doctor to finish. He shook his head, "they will have to be, doctor."

"But they aren't ready -"

"My decision is final." The man's voice was rising.

Seeing as the children are starting to notice them with curiosity, the psychologist led his guest off to another part of the ward. They didn't speak until they were in his office.

"Sir, you can't do this." The psychologist spoke as soon as he closed his door. "You've seen these children. Kuonji - he's - he's unstable, sir. Please, if you leave him out there, to that world full of chaos, I don't think he can handle it. Those games that he plays? They keep him sane. It's his treatment. If he doesn't have that - he might…" The psychologist shook his head, thinking hard on his study of the boy, "he might make a mind game of his own involving real people."

"Then let him. It's just a game, what's the harm?"

The psychologist blinked, as if to think, did the man really just say that? "You don't get it do you? People's lives may be at stake. Kuonji can't be out and about in the wor-"

"It is what it is." The government official could not be budged. "We're closing down all mental institutions. You're wasting your breath, doctor. My advice to you: start finding another job." With that the man turned to leave. "I'll walk myself out."

The psychologist sat heavily down in his threadbare leather chair. "What will I do?" He muttered to himself. But most importantly, what will his patients do, if they were kicked out to the harsh, unforgiving world?

But, like the man said, it is what it is.

.

.

.

**1 9 8 6**

.

.

.

"Honey, I'm home!" Fujitaka hollered as soon as he closed the front door, taking off his shoes in the process.

"I'm in the nursery!" Nadeshiko called back.

Soon enough, Fujitaka appeared by the nursery door, his hat in his hands. He grinned as soon as he caught sight of his wife. Marching up to her, he kissed her cheek, then kissed the baby boy in her arms in the forehead.

"Evening, Mrs. Kinomoto." Fujitaka greeted softly.

Nadeshiko smiled at her husband. "Did you catch a lot of bad guys today?"

"That's classified," Fujitaka winked. He had been promoted up a few more ranks in the MIA recently, and thus, dealing with more classified missions than ever. He rested his cheek on his wife's shoulder. "How was your day today?"

"Oh, dandy as always." Nadeshiko laughed lightly. "Touya's being a little difficult with the food. You should've seen the mess he made in the kitchen."

"Are you refusing to eat your dinner again?" Fujitaka asked his son.

"Yes, he is." Nadeshiko answered for the baby, looking up at her husband teasingly. "He clicked that stubborn jaw he got from you."

"Did he stare you down with my determined brown eyes?" Fujitaka reached down to caress the baby's cheek.

"What do you think?" Nadeshiko rolled his light emerald orbs.

Fujitaka grinned, he stepped away from the nursery for a while, taking his coat off as he walked. Once her husband was out of sight, Nadeshiko turned back to her baby lovingly.

"You're gonna be smart and caring just like your daddy. You're gonna make mommy proud." Nadeshiko murmured to the little boy. He quieted his wailings, looking like he truly understood her. She continued to rock him as she spoke, "Mommy wants a little girl, and you're gonna protect her, okay, Touya?"

He blinked his soft, sweet brown eyes up at her as he sucked messily on his thumb. Nadeshiko smiled lovingly down at him. She put him gently in his crib, covering him with soft blankets and wrapping them around him.

Fujitaka returned, coatless, hatless, and sleeves rolled up. He watched with a warm feeling in his chest, leaning against the door. Nadeshiko bent over to place a soft kiss on her son's forehead.

Nadeshiko turned to close the light of the nursery, sharing a loving gaze with her husband.

"What was that I heard about a little girl?" Fujitaka asked quietly with a teasing grin when Nadeshiko passed by him.

"Oh, Fujitaka." Nadeshiko smiled, running her soft hand down his cheek and across his jaw. "You look tired."

"Not too tired to try for a little girl, though." He let out a wolfish grin as his arm naturally wound around her waist. They made their way down to the master bedroom.

She laughed melodically. Turning to face him just as they reached their bedroom door, Nadeshiko wound her arms around his neck. "Is that so?"

"Mhmm." Fujitaka hummed cheerfully as he leaned in for a deep kiss. Nadeshiko's light laughter and Fujitaka's deep hums could be heard as they twirled and kissed their way into the master bedroom, closing the door behind them.

**. . .**

Yuka and Izumi bickered quietly amongst themselves as Yuka distractedly scanned the restaurant for the person she's meeting. Finally, she rested a hand on her boyfriend's arm, telling him to hush. With a grin, she spotted the person she was looking for. Turns out, her friend brought a plus one too.

"Hey!" Yuka greeted enthusiastically, running up to hug her childhood best friend. She was so happy she finally got to contact Kaoru.

When they parted, they exchanged a few words, a reminiscent glint in their eyes. Kaoru first introduced Yuka to her boyfriend and vice versa.

Then it was Yuka's turn. "This is my best friend, we went to the orphanage together." Yuka grinned as she looked up at Izumi. Kaoru's eyebrows raised when she spotted the tall blonde.

"Who's this?"

"This is Izumi." Yuka introduced sheepishly, "he's my boyfriend."

"You have a boyfriend!" Kaoru exclaimed, taking Izumi's hand and shaking it enthusiastically.

"Don't sound so surprised!" Yuka scowled as her boyfriend laughed heartily.

Soon enough the four took off their coats and sat down comfortably at a table. Yuka and Izumi on one side, Kaoru and her boyfriend on the other side.

"So," Kaoru clasped her hands together interestedly, "how'd it happen?" She gestured to the two of them, "you two? I wanna hear the story."

The pair turned to each other and shrugged. "There isn't really a story." Yuka started. "We work together, and we hated each other at first, then we kind of just...grew on each other."

"You worked together?" Kaoru exclaimed in surprise, her eye lingering on Yuka. They seemed to have come to an understanding.

Izumi looked to Yuka with a puzzled and cautious expression. When Yuka turned to him, she nudged him to continue the story. He turned to their audience. "Yeah," he laughed. He didn't go into any details as to what they were doing but he described their dysfunctional partnership, to the humor of their audience. Finally, he concluded with, "She was hitting me even before we started dating. That's how I knew she liked me."

"Oh, shut up!" Yuka swiped her boyfriend's forearm.

"See, there she goes again!" Izumi pointed to his girlfriend as their company laughed heartily.

"I'm going to the bathroom." Kaoru's boyfriend murmured in her ear. She nodded in response, paying more attention to her best friend. As soon as her boyfriend left, Kaoru's absent smile thinned into a grim line."You're still in it, aren't you?" She glanced at Izumi, who raised his eyebrows in surprise at her knowledge. "He's your partner?"

Yuka looked down, almost ashamed. She shook her head, "one more mission, we're out."

Kaoru leaned forward, hissing so that no one else could hear them. "I heard the KGB don't release people - especially not when they're good as you -"

Yuka looked alarmed. "You shouldn't be asking -"

"Yuka, honey, I'm your best friend." Kaoru shook her head at her friend, of course she had to ask. "Don't lie to me."

"We made a deal with them." Izumi was the one who spoke up this time. "After the last mission, we're done. Kind of like early retirement."

"Really?" Kaoru's entire demeanor changed. She grinned, "that's good news!"

Yuka turned to look at her boyfriend dryly. She scowled at him, silently blaming him for apparently being the more believable one.

"Yay!" Kaoru clapped her hands, just as her own boyfriend made his way back.

He smiled at the trio, "so what have you said now to make Kaoru so happy?"

Yuka shrugged, Izumi looked clueless, and Kaoru hummed happily.

"We're gonna live in cute yellow houses with white picket fences and fancy yard," Kaoru placed a hand on her boyfriend's arm, who listened amusedly to her. "and they're gonna be our next door neighbors -"

"Wait, what?"

"I never agreed to that."

"Oh hush, you will." Kaoru waved a dismissive hand at the confused couple. "And our children are gonna play with each other -"

Her boyfriend raised his eyebrows. "And how many do you suppose we'll be having?"

Kaoru grinned, leaning closer to her boyfriend. "Depends how active we're feeling." She winked.

Yuka rolled her eyes as Izumi glanced at his girlfriend amusedly. "Are _we_ gonna be active?" He murmured to Yuka.

Yuka glared at him, her blush making her look more adorable than fierce. "We are not having this conversation right now."

"No?" Izumi glanced down distractedly as he reached into his pocket. Yuka furrowed her eyebrows as she watched his movements, but her eyes widened considerably as soon as his hand revealed a velvet box.

Izumi turned to her, and the table quieted once the other couple caught on to what was happening. But Izumi and Yuka paid no attention. He grinned, opening the box and revealing a beautifully cut diamond set on a gold band. "What about now?"

Yuka gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. She tried to speak, opening and closing her mouth speechlessly.

Izumi pushed his chair back, getting down on his knee with an anxious grin. "Yuka…" He trailed off. He had a speech ready, but now that the moment was really happening, his mind was blank.

They pair didn't notice the background noise tone down a few notches when the restaurant occupants saw the proposal.

"When I first met you, I knew you were going to be the most frustrating, difficult, feisty, disagreeable, and stuck up person I've ever had to work with. You just - you get under my skin like no other." At this, Yuka frowned at him, crossing her arms. Izumi continued, his eyes never straying from hers. "It took me a while, but I realized that I loved it. I loved every minute of being with you, arguing with you, I just - I loved it. And I don't think I can imagine the rest of my life without your feisty comebacks, our difficult compromises, your physical abuse, our making out - you're a really good kisser, you know that? - and so…" Izumi lifted the velvet box with the beautiful ring like an offering. "Will you marry me?"

Yuka nodded speechlessly, hastily wiping away tears. "Yes, yes, yes, yes!" She exclaimed as she reached out to glomp a gleeful Izumi. The restaurant, in turn, began to clap for the elated couple.

**. . .**

"Please-ple-please!" The informant choked out as he was slammed against the wall. A tall hooded figure stood in front of him maliciously, a hand pressing heavily against the informant's throat. There was a thin, dark smile across the man's scarred face. People called him Persona.

The informant writhed against Persona's grasp. After a few seconds, the informant gasped out, "I-I-I'll-I'll talk - okay - I'll talk!"

A shorter, smaller, hooded figure was standing next to Persona. He raised a thin hand, and Persona obediently let the man go.

The informant immediately collapsed against the brick wall, gasping. "What you're looking for," he took another hungry gulp of air. "they're-they're not in the field anymore."

"I asked you for the best assassin _alive."_ The smaller man, whose is never revealed - but Persona knew it was Kuonij - growled in annoyance.

"Y-yes-I know." The man held his hands up in surrender, flinching when Persona merely raised his arm. "She's - she's alive. She is, she's just not in the business - retired, that kind of thing."

"I don't think you heard me right. I want to hire the best assassin out there, not a wrangly old hag."

"She's not - she's not old." The man stuttered, his back against the wall for support. "She's still the best out there - if she would take on jobs. Nobody knew who she was, they call her the Wallflower, see, you never know if she's there or not until, well, somebody's - _bam_ - dead. It's always a surprise how she does it, too. You think you know how she kills, then she switches it up. People have debated how many ways she knows how to kill and we're all now at 1000 but nobody really knows. As soon as the target's dead, she's gone. It's like, she was never there."

Kuonji smiled. She sounds perfect. "Where is she?"

"Nobody knows. They've tried to contact her. She hasn't been in business for a few years now. But the new hired guns that have risen in her absence -" the man shook his head, "they're not as good. No one will ever be as good as The Wallflower."

"Who's the last person who contacted her?"

"You can't hire her." The man shook his head. "She won't do jobs -"

"She will." Kuonji nodded confidently. "I'll convince her." He waved at Persona, who slammed the informant against the brick wall harshly. "Now, how do I find her?"

"I don't know -" The man gasped out, waving his arms about wildly, "I swear - I don't know! Nobody knows!"

Kuonji stared at the informant with his chilling raven eyes. "Nevermind, I'll find her myself." And Persona let go of the man. Kuonji went on to his next question, "who do I find if I want a job done?"

"What kind of job?" The man looked between the two blank faces. "Infiltration, cyber, a tail?"

"Everything."

"The KGB." The man immediately responded. "They're the best at everything."

"Who's their best?"

"You can't hire the KGB," the informant furrowed his eyebrows, "they work for themselves."

Persona threw a heavy fist into the informant's stomach. "Answer his question." He gritted out in a deep, mean voice.

The informant coughed. He clawed at the ground, trying to get up. "They're a team -" he coughed out. "One male, one female. They're a team…" With much difficulty, he rose to a sitting position, looking up at the two now towering figures.

.

.

.

**1 9 9 3**

.

.

.

Nadeshiko smiled as she glanced around the recently refurbished girl's bedroom. She sat at a small tea table across her daughter, who played cheerfully with her tea cups and princess crowns.

The peace was shattered by a doorbell ringing. Nadeshiko frowned. "Are we expecting anyone?" She asked her daughter.

Her daughter frowned cutely. "Dada?"

"Yes, maybe it's daddy." Nadeshiko muttered, standing up. She smiled softly as she voiced, "maybe your daddy and your brother Touya forgot something and he's come back to get it." As she walked out the room, she said unnecessarily, "I'll be right back, Sakura."

She walked barefoot through the hardwood floor to the front door. She peeked out the keyhole, but saw nothing. With a frown, she opened up the door a crack. It was cold outside, but still nothing. She scanned the surroundings. She frowned, turning back to head upstairs.

"It's nothing, Sakura." She spoke as she walked towards the little bedroom. "Just some kids in the neighborhoo-" She gasped as soon as she came into full view of the bedroom.

A strange man, one of a sinister smile and lanky arms was holding onto her terrified daughter. One other man stood next to him, his face scarred and his scowl dark.

"Who are you?" Nadeshiko asked lowly.

"You've slacked off, Wallflower." The man whose name is actually Kuonji stated casually. "You didn't even close the window."

"I'm not in that business anymore." Nadeshiko's jaw clicked in an action she learned from her husband. "Let her go." Nadeshiko commanded, stepping into the room. She eyed the tall man, who other call Persona. She sized him up.

Kuonji tugged at the child's hair as he pulled her back, out of her mother's reach. The child wailed dreadfully, it's little frightened emerald eyes locking gazes with identical frightened emerald eyes.

"Now, now," Kuonji calmly states as Nadeshiko's horrified screech mixed with Sakura's pained wail filled the house. "She's only two and...five months, now? She won't remember it. You know that." He turned to the wailing child. "Don't you, Sakura dear?"

"Don't you talk to her!" Nadeshiko growled, launching at him, but Persona tased her. Rather than detaining her, it seemed to infuriate her even more. She wrenched the taser out of his grasp with shaky, electrocuted hands and knocked it across the side of his face, effectively pushing the heavy man aside. She launched for Kuonji and her baby girl, but Persona had a hard skull. He rolled to his knees, reaching his long arms out to grab at Nadeshiko's legs.

She glanced back at him, glaring daggers. In a series of swift moves - faster than the eye can catch - she had struck at the man six times. Once by the side of his neck with the flat of her hand, his abdomen with her knee, the back of his knee with her foot, a sharp elbow across his back, and she twisted each of his arms. Persona fell with a horrific groan.

Kuonji backed up, pulling the little girl along with him, but Nadeshiko was faster. For touching her daughter, she gave them a fierce right hook. Kuonji fell back against the wall, letting go of his captive. Immediately, little Sakura ran into her mother's arms.

"Ah, there it is, just what I was looking for." Kuonji stumbled to his feet, grinning wolfishly. He dusted himself off calmly. "Nadeshiko, I want to hire you."

"After you- shh, it's okay, baby, it's okay." The woman stroked her child's hair as she hugged her baby tightly. "let me think about it - _**NO.**_" And the last word she hissed darkly.

Kuonji laughed coldly. "You don't need to think about it." And he said this with the most unsympathetic voice anyone could have ever said such a sentence. "You don't have a choice."

**. . .**

They sat at the Yukihira dining table. Contrary to all the other nights in the quaint home, it was not a happy scene. Yuka and Izumi sat on one side of the table, and behind them stood Persona. Across the table sat a scared little girl of two years old. Directly behind her stood a smug Kuonji. Every one of the Yukihira family were tied to their chairs with ropes.

Kuonji looked down at a small Mikan. "My, my, you have a two year old, too? Perfect."

"Too?" Yuka was refrained from lunging forward. "What do you mean - you sick bastard - who else did you -" She swallowed the rest of her sentence when she saw her daughter sob loudly. "Honey, honey, look at me. It's going to be okay, Mikan, honey. Just hold on, okay? Mommy will -" Kuonji frowns darkly, and tugs sharply at the little girl's hair. He produces a knife. Seeing the sharp silver object, Yuka's voice rose dramatically, "No, no, no, FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU!"

Izumi, who was muttering curses and death threats under his breath darkly, was suddenly free of his bonds. He launched at the man, just as Kuonji raised a knife to his daughter's throat.

Yuka screamed, but her husband didn't stop. Persona immediately moved forward to pull Izumi back. He didn't quite reach the man. Yuka kicked the chair next to her, the chair Izumi had just cleared. It tangled with Persona's legs, bringing him down. Yuka then freed out of her own bondage and jumped on top of the fallen muscle man. The two tousled on the floor.

Meanwhile, Izumi had launched across the table just as Kuonji pulled Mikan's chair back.

"You-" Izumi was about to spit out cuss words but the wail of his daughter cut him off. His voice completely transforming to one softer and gentler, he murmured, "Mikan, honey, you hang in

there, okay?" He crouched down, grabbing the legs of her chair, "just hang on." He then pushed it back harshly. Kuonji, though he didn't groan in pain, let go of his grip on both the knife and the back of the chair. This gave Izumi enough time to pull his chair back, grab Kuonji's knife, and begin cutting his daughter free of her bonds. Kuonji got up from the wall just as Mikan was freed.

Mikan quickly leaped into her father's arms. Izumi secured her arm around his neck as he hugged her to him with his left arm. With his right arm, he threw a heavy punch straight into Kuonji's nose.

Hearing heavy thuds behind him, Izumi was distracted from beating the man senseless. Yuka was on Persona's back. Her legs were wrapped around his torso and her arms around his neck, trying to strangle him. But he was putting up one hell of a fight. He slammed her back against the wall, causing her to let go, sliding down the wall with a groan. Persona stood up to his full height, towering over the fallen Yuka.

Izumi, from the other side of the table, couldn't quite leap over in time. So, he glanced at the knife still in his hand. He threw it, knowing that if he missed, he'd hit Yuka. But he never misses.

It lodged securely in Persona's leg, causing him to collapse on it with a groan. Quickly, Yuka crawled away, running to her husband's other open arm.

"I got it." Yuka breathed heavily, her head resting against her husband's shoulder. "I had it."

"I believe you." Izumi murmured back, kissing his wife's forehead.

Persona limped over to his master. With his help, Kuonji stood up slowly. He was smiling. Kuonji had blood rolling down his face, and he was smiling manically. "Perfect." He muttered. "Just perfect." He stood up, wiping himself off daintily as the Yukihira family hugged each other like it was the last day on Earth. "I want to hire you both -"

"No way in fucking-"

Kuonji calmly reached into his jacket pocket and placed a picture in front of them. It was a happy family photo of Kaoru hugging her one year old son, and her husband. It was a Hyuuga family photo.

The husband and wife quieted immediately.

In a hoarse voice, Yuka threatened, "you touch them, and I swear I'll -"

"You'll what?"

Izumi had to hold Yuka back.

**. . .**

September 5th, 1993 marked the day the Yukihiras and Nadeshiko Kinomoto met. They met in a large, dark, and run down warehouse. Oddly enough, there was a chunky TV, as they were back then, situated next to the chair. Kuonji occupied the leather chair, of course. Persona stood next to him, the white mask in place. The three able bodied people were forced to sit in degrading elementary school wooden chairs in front of Kuonji.

"See, what I realize with people," Kuonji was calmly explaining, "is that everyone has weaknesses. Everyone has, what I like to call, puppet strings." He stared down Izumi and Yuka. "You two have the Hyuugas. A lovely family. And you," he shifted his gaze to Nadeshiko, "have your husband and your eldest son."

"I'll find yours." Yuka vowed.

"You can try," Kuonji laughed, sending a chill down their spines. "Yes, but you will fail. I don't have one."

"Impossible." Izumi breathed. "You're human."

Kuonji ignored him. "See, the fun thing with you three is that you have some kind of sympathy for people, I suppose. You care -" and he laughed hollowly at this point, "- very cute. And yet, you're all very, very skilled. You're perfect for the job. Therefore, you are all very easy to manipulate."

"We're not doing shit for you-" Yuka growled fiercely.

Kuonji snatched the remote in his hands and turned on the TV by the corner of the room. It was a live feed of the Hyuuga household. In fact, the video feed switches every so often from room to room. Then, five minutes later, it switched to a live camera feed of the Kinomoto house. Fujitaka was seen packing his bags with a confused, little Touya. "No?" He voiced as he watched their reactions.

Yuka growled. "What's the damn job?"

"I own you." Kuonji stated, his eyes as deep as a black abyss pointed straight toward Yuka's own. "From this point on, I own you all. If I say, kill the President. You can only say, head or chest?"

"Just tell us the _fucking job."_

"Lucky for you two, you get to work together. Fun, isn't it? Together, you two have the widest range of skills that I need. Perfect for training my new army of Alices." A chilling grin spread of Kuonji's face.

"No - fuck you -"

"And you, Nadeshiko. You're the perfect woman, you know that? Your particular set of skills is just perfect for what I need you to be."

"What is it?" Came her small, defeated voice.

"My, say, errand runner. I'm going to use you, to be frank, to establish The Alices."

Her voice hardened quickly, "I'm not going to help you establish your little criminal clique -"

"Ten years from now, Nadeshiko, you'll have done it. So save your breath." Kuonji seemed to have lost patience. With a temperamental rolls of his eyes, he flounced off, waving at Persona to finish the rest of the briefing.

.

.

.

**2014**

**.**

**.**

**.**

"Hey!" Mochu brightened up, in his tired state, he was acting as if drunk. He wagged his finger at a solemn Sakura. "You have the same name as the Kinomoto's daughter!"

Hotaru turned her gaze towards the Interpol agent sharply.

Sakura sighed. She stood up and walked over to the other end of the conference table, where the timeline seemed to fade off.

"I wonder what happened to her…" Mochu tilted his head at a dramatic angle, then leaned his head against Koko's, "don't YOU?"

Koko wasn't minding Mochu, however. All eyes were on Sakura and her odd movements.

"She was sent to an orphanage." Sakura spoke up quietly, which wasn't exactly true. Kuonji had decided to keep her and Mikan in the Alices. They were part of the first class when Alices Academy was set up by Mr. and Mrs. Yukihira. The pair were the only children there, so bonded together and became the best of childhood friends. They certainly felt like orphans, for the Yukihiras painstakingly kept their distance. It was only after their death that Mikan found out they were her biological parents. One had to wonder why they kept their distance.

Because of their age advantage, Mikan and Sakura grew up to be the youngest and best Alices to have ever graduated Alice Academy.

"Kinomoto." Sakura stated, looking up and meeting Hotaru's eyes. "That's my last name."

A collective gasp caused a change in wind direction around the room. The loudest was Mochu's.

Breaking eye contact, Sakura looked down by the edge of the table. She picked up a news article, the most recent of the team's collaborative research. The end of the timeline.

"The Alices were successfully established in five years." Sakura walked back to her chair, plopping down wearily as she eyed the article. "One year later, Nadeshiko Kinomoto dies."

"Of what?"

Sakura scanned the article, though she's already memorized every word by now. "They blamed it on a health condition."

Syaoran scoffed.

"Yeah. Right." Sakura agreed. "I was an orphan for most of my life. Obviously, I thought my parents were dead. Then, I saw that news article," and at that point, she threw it on the glass table, watching it slide for a few centimeters. "and I understood that my mother couldn't take care of me. But my father...Imagine my surprise when I find out my father is still alive, well and dandy, and head of MIA."

"Maybe he couldn't, either." Nonoko softly tried to comfort her. "You know, maybe it was too dangerous living with him. Eriol did say that not a lot of people knew his full name. Right?" She turned to the Brit.

"Sometimes it slips," Eriol muttered, "but we call him Mr. K."

"I had an older brother." Sakura looked up fiercely. Nonoko was stunned by the hurt, betrayal, and anger in her eyes. "He could raise a son but not me? What could have been so wrong with me that he couldn't claim me?"

"Oh, Sakura…" Nonoko reached over to pat the girl on the back.

"Mr. K has a son?" Eriol turned to look at his partner, who looked just as stunned as he.

"Where is he now?" Syaoran asked.

"Wiped clean off the face of the earth a few years back." Sakura responded listlessly. "He's a ghost."

"Or dead." Natsume cut in bluntly. "You were better off in orphanage. Obviously, he didn't want whatever happened to your brother to happen to you."

But I wasn't in orphanage! I was an Alice! Sakura wanted to yell. What could be worse than being an Alice?! What could possibly have prevented her own father to try to contact her, or reach her, or _something._ Sakura could only imagine what Mikan must be feeling. Her parents were right in front of her, her whole life - in plain fucking sight - and they didn't even try to claim her.

"But Mikan became an Alice." Anna spoke up, pointing out a good flaw in Sakura's story.

Yeah...how do you know her again? Sakura decided it was better she save her own skin for now. "Perhaps she would go to any length to find out what happened to her parents. I figured Interpol and the right side of the law is the next best thing."

"So Mikan joined the Alices." Anna reiterated.

Sakura shrugged, pretending not to know anything. "You're the lot that know her. Don't ask me."

There was a solemn silence for the next few minutes.

It was only broken when Mochu banged his head on the desk from falling asleep. He shook his head, rubbing his forehead, and muttering apologies.

Natsume sighed. He waved his hand lazily in the air. "Alright, everyone get some sleep."

Koko smiled tiredly, getting up along with the rest of the crew. "The Alices will probably still be wreaking havoc on Earth tomorrow anyway."

The team was too tired to laugh, but some did smile.

.

.

.

**A/N:** slightly discouraged by the lack of reader response last chapter. okay then. I'm grateful to the select few who have reviewed, though, thanks very much.

Just for historical clarification, _United States_ closed down orphanages around 1940s, and having one institution survive past that is entirely fictional. _United Kingdom_, to my knowledge (and correct me if I'm wrong), have not closed down orphanages so it was totally fine for Sakura to say she was placed in an orphanage.

Again, another disclaimer: The wave of deinstitutionalisation (where mental hospitals were shut down in large numbers and patients kicked out onto the streets) in the United States were around the 1950s to the late 1960s. Therefore, my _fictional_ implementation of this historical event follows independently and twenty years late from the historical, _factual_ events.

**I disclaim The Godfather, Al Capone, and all my other references.**

The following behind-the-scenes footage was requested by Nogizaka Ayumi.

.

.

.

The screen wobbled dangerously as the camera-holder walked into a large open gym. There were large blue mats scattered, along with gyms bags, towels, and water bottles. There was chatter and noises of combat before people came into view.

The camera man weaved through athletic persons and scattered actors.

"Hey Sakura!" Came a very close female voice.

The called out actress, in the process of tying up her hair into a ponytail, whirled around at the voice. She looked straight at the camera, then over it. "Oh, hey, Mikan!" Having finished tying up her hair, she took off her sweater to reveal an athletic tank top falling loose over her athletic shorts. "..are you recording?"

"Yeah!" Mikan answered shortly before moving on. A few celebrities waved at the camera, having been used to it, as it was their profession.

Luna, standing with hands at her hips by the side of a blue mat, blew a kiss at the camera when Mikan approached.

"'Sup." Came a breathy voice from the camera's left. Immediately, Mikan whirled it around so that Hayate came into view. He was emptying a water bottle down his throat. As soon as he finished, he recapped tit and set it down by the edge of the blue mat. "You recording practice?" He addressed Mikan, not looking at the camera. Apparently she responded wordless because in the next second he was looking at the camera. "I don't get to do much action on screen, you know, but when I am on screen," he winked, "I gotta be good. That's why we practice, so we don't have to keep refilming."

Luna, from Mikan's right - and the camera whirled to face her - scoffed, "we'll be at the studio forever if we don't practice."

The camera whirled again to find Hayate's face close as he stage whispered, "which happens when Luna's on screen."

"Hey!" Came a protest, and again the camera whirled so that Luna's scowl filled the screen.

A button was pressed and the camera was flipped so that Mikan's face filled the screen. On the right and left edges of her screen showed her arms holding the camera. "We're always in here because Aspirator's a perfectionist."

Hayate looked over her shoulder, mouthing, "ALWAYS!" with wide eyes.

"Nah, _Sakura's_ always in here, mostly because she's also filming another action movie with Aspirator. Called twenty-four or something like that." came a third voice. The camera flipped again so that it faced outwards. Then, Tsubasa came into view, wearing a tank top, shorts, and a towel hung around his neck. "Hey, what's this?" He raised his eyebrows at the camera, winking at it. Then he flexed his right arm.

"Oh, c'mon," Hayate walked onto the camera, shaking his head, "put the guns away, man."

"You're just complaining because you don't have any." Tsubasa laughed, but his stopped flexing, he turned around as a stuntman called his attention.

"I do so." Hayate frowned, fisting his hands and pulling them near his center so that he was flexing both his arms. He looked up at the camera, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, "you see?"

Mikan flipped the camera around so that her face filled the screen. She rolled her eyes at the camera, mouthing, "_men._" Sakura's head popped up over Mikan's shoulder and she made a face.

Mikan looked around, and the camera shook a little. "Hey, Sakura! Where are you practicing?"

"Oh, no, no, don't look at me. I'm so bad." Sakura's voice was starting to fade. Mikan flipped the camera around again. All that filled the screen were feet and blue mats for a second before the camera was lifted up to follow Sakura's back.

Sakura glanced over her shoulder, giving Mikan a look. "Seriously." She glanced to her right, "Look, Tsubasa's practicing. Go film him!"

"Ugh, fiiine." came Mikan's voice from just behind the camera. The scene changed as Mikan sharply turned around. She stopped by a large blue mat. Tsubasa, now discarded his towel and only in a tank top and shorts, was in the center surrounded by three men. He was standing closest to one, nodding and listening to what the man said.

"Okay, okay, yeah." Came his faraway voice. "Got it." Tsubasa stepped back, raising his fists. The two men beside him, too, raised their fists. Tsubasa breathed deeply, then swung a right hook at the first man. The first man ducked, and while he did so, aimed for Tsubasa's stomach. Of course, the first man didn't touch Tsubasa's stomach, but Tsubasa flinched back as if he did. Then, Tsubasa pretend-elbowed the second man.

The instructor stopped the fighting at that point, shaking his head. "Tsubasa, you wanna do two things at the same time." As the instructor approached an attentive Tsubasa, he softened his voice. So soft, the camera wasn't able to catch the rest of his instructions, only that Tsubasa was nodding along.

When the instructor finished, he stepped back again, and Tsubasa got into position. He raised his fists, then glanced over - spotting the camera. He frowned. "Hey, what are you doing?" He called out to Mikan.

The camera immediately went down, as the screen was filled with blue mats and feet again. Mikan's voice called out cheerfully, "nothing!" Just before the recording stopped.


	7. Aoi Is Everywhere

Sakura marched through the halls of Alices headquarters. She had arrived early that morning, nearly six, before the sun rose. She had ample time to get back to London, too, for the team usually trickled in the conference room around eight.

She passed by Tsubasa, who looked oddly like a mixture of suppressed anger and apprehension. "Just so you know, it was Luna." He muttered quietly so that only she heard it.

Sakura turned to look at him with furrowed eyebrows, but Tsubasa continued in the other direction. She continued her march to the Master's office. Something didn't settle right with her.

Two Alices opened the door for her, but then they shut it behind them. They stayed outside. That should've been her first warning - that this was a closed door meeting.

"Master." Sakura bowed deeply. "You called for me?"

The small man sitting in a relaxed position on the couch sighed. "Yes." He stood up, fixing his pitch-black eyes upon Sakura's confused Emerald ones. "The Princess." He sighed the name, as if it disappointed him. "Of all the Alices, you were supposed to be the best. Even better than the Elites."

Sakura immediately felt ashamed, even though she didn't know what she did wrong yet. "I'm sorry, Master. I must not have been at the right state of mind when I did - whatever I did was wrong." She didn't dare look up at him.

"Not at the right state of mind?" Kuonji questioned with a dangerous edge to his tone. He picked up a pack of manila folders from his desk. He marched forward to stand beside Sakura. Then he threw the folders on the concrete ground.

They made a heavy thud, causing Sakura to flinch. Persona, who remained standing behind Kuonji's chair, didn't move a muscle.

"Seven times?" the Master questioned. "Seven times you filled out a progress report. Seven times you were not at the right state of mind? SEVEN TIMES!" Kuonji hollered. Sakura winced, keeping her head bowed.

The small man took a deep breath to calm himself. In his normal voice, he continued, "Seven times you failed to include _eight_ members of the team you were assigned. Eight important Americans. The A Team." He spit out the team's name with such disgust.

Sakura swallowed thickly. "Master, I-I'm sorry, please forgive me, I didn't know." She bit her lip. "They-they weren't in the file. Only the MIA agents were. I didn't think they were important-"

"NOTHING IS UNIMPORTANT!" Kuonji screeched at her.

Sakura instinctively stepped back with a shaky breath.

The Master recollected himself. Gently, he explained, "You know how I hate not knowing things, right? Sakura, is it? Yes, hm?"

"Yes." Sakura answered softly. "I'm sorry."

"That's the point of progress reports, is it not? So that I can know everything that's going on? So that I don't have to dispatch The Spy, to plant him in the MIA? You know what a waste of manpower that is?" Kuonji paced in front of Sakura. He shook his head. "One Alice. That's what it should've taken to infiltrate the MIA. But no, you made me put in another."

"I promise it won't happen again."

"No, of course not." The Master stopped in front of Sakura. "You're not suited to undercover work. You're an assassin!" Kuonji waved a hand in the air as if to say 'what was I thinking?'. "You don't use a Knight to do a Bishop's job."

Sakura quickly inferred what Kuonji was doing. She lifted her head up to protest, but quickly put it down when she realized who she was talking to. With a soft but firm voice, Sakura spoke up. "Master, if I may… I really think I can still be of use in this case. This group that you want to infiltrate, they are very secretive. It took me a month to get them to trust me. If you switch people, they will get more suspicious and refuse to cooperate."

"Ah, yes, you've been there for a month." Kuonji resumed pacing as he squished a stress ball in his hand. "So what have you done?"

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows. Is he testing her? Nervously, she stated, "They've come to trust my judgment. I've led them away from investigating current Alices activities in the London area. I was the one who orchestrated Dr. Yamanouchi's escape -"

"Ah, after - who was it? - The Voice's mistake." Kuonji recognized her achievement.

"Yes." Sakura nodded eagerly. "I used my cover to give the Alices an opening to retrieve her."

"But what about the Ibaragi incident?"

Was it just Sakura or did Persona flinch? Sakura frowned. "I apologize for not being able to keep a careful watch over Ms. Ibaragi. It would be too suspicious if I intervene on a strong suspect such as her."

"You did intervene, did you not?"

And if Sakura was any other person, she would be sweating on the spot. But she kept her cool. Firmly, she lied confidently, "No. I did not. I was at the time discussing with the rest of the team the possibility of other hostile forces that could be doing those Alices activities they were investigating."

"I see." The Master seemed to have believed her. "You remember the mission?"

Sakura nodded stiffly. "Yes."

"Good." Kuonji made his way back to his desk. "You destroy them when I tell you to."

"Down to the second." Sakura responded obediently.

The Master paused briefly by his chair. "Good, you're dismissed."

Sakura let out a sigh of relief.

A sinister smile made its way to Kuonji's face when he continued, "after you get punished."

Sakura hung her head. Of course she did.

Persona grinned. He loved punishing people. "Where, Sir?"

"The Chamber." Kuonji stated coldly as he sat down in his chair.

Sakura inhaled sharply in reaction, but she kept her head bowed.

Punishment for Alices involved three categories. These categories are separated by room names. The Chamber was the worst of them.

Persona took his sweet time wrapping electricity conducting wires around her wrists and ankles, grabbing her arm, and dragging her off to the Chamber.

Oh, how costly it was to protect the A Team.

.

.

.

**In Plain Sight**

_**Aspirator**_

.

.

.

"Come on man." Kitsuneme crossed his arms. He tightened the semi-circle that he was forming with Koko and Eriol around Syaoran.

"Yeah, tell us." Koko chorused.

"Just let it out." Eriol grinned.

"Okay, okay!" Syaoran surrendered. He mumbled something indecipherable.

"What was that?" Eriol didn't even bother to lean in closer. He only grinned wider. "Didn't hear you, mate."

With a dark frown, Syaoran exclaimed loudly, waving his arms embarrassedly, "Sakura is _damn fit._ And I want to get off with her, it's completely normal -"

Consequently, the trio snickered. Koko even cheekily exclaimed cheerfully, "Sakura!"

"That's not funny -" Syaoran choked on his own spit when he turned around to see Sakura herself amble casually into the break room. Blinking away his wide eyes, Syaoran cleared his throat. "Hey." He stands coolly, holding his mug in one hand and gripping the table tightly with his other hand. The three men behind him grinned suspiciously cheerfully.

"Hello." The lady smiles brightly at him in response, her eyes flickering briefly to the men behind him.

"Tea?" He offered in the impending silence.

"Sure." Sakura held up her own cup. "Yeah."

He lifts the tea kettle with his left hand, easily pouring the liquid in the cup. Again, filling in the awkward silence, he stated randomly, "It's caffeinated - which is rare, because Tomoyo drinks a lot of this stuff. We've banned her from the room a couple of times."

"Can't imagine why." Sakura commented with a playful smile. At Syaoran's lack of a response, she added, "she's hyper enough as she is."

"Yeah." Syaoran agreed, setting the tea kettle down.

Seeing as the conversation wasn't going any further, Sakura turned around. She paused, turning to look at the man with her playful smile ever present. "For the record, I think you're incredibly fit too." Then she ambled off cheerfully.

Syaoran stared after her, a grin blossoming on his face.

"Ask her out." It was Koko who said it. Syaoran turned to the American, caught off guard. "You know, just 'would you like to go on a date with me' or something."

"yeah," the other two men joined in.

"If fit is British for really hot then obviously you two like each other." Kitsuneme added.

"Which is perfect ground for you to go for a cup of tea with her." Eriol grinned.

Syaoran groaned. They were teaming up against him again. "It's not that simple, alright?" He grumbled.

Kitsuneme scoffed. Koko laughed. And Eriol spoke up for the three of them, "oh please - what's that bloke's name - Mochu! Mochu asks her out everyday-"

"Three times a day, even -" Koko cut in.

"-sometimes four." Kitsuneme continued. "It's just a simple statement."

Yeah, a simple statement that Syaoran needed to say to Sakura's wonderfully clueless face.

.

.

.

Back on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Ruka was sleeping peacefully and snug in his bed.

Until his phone rang.

With a groan, Ruka extended a tan arm to slap around his bedside table for his phone. Once he got it in his hands, he pressed answer groggily. "Nogi." He answered sleepily.

"Get on your laptop, idiot." Came a surprisingly familiar voice.

It took a second for Ruka to comprehend. He blinked, then sat up with wide eyes. "Hotaru?" He asked, his voice now sounding very awake. He glanced at the clock, ignoring the movement in the bedsheets to his left. "You know it's two in the morning here?"

"I know." She responded. Before he could protest, she hung up.

Ruka thought about going back to sleep, he really did. But this was Hotaru and, well, anything Hotaru does is urgent.

With a sigh, Ruka crawled out of bed and stumbled the three steps it takes to his desk. He turned on his laptop and within minutes had signed onto the video chatting application. He yawned just as Hotaru called him. He clicked answer, rubbing his face sleepily.

When he opened his eyes again, Hotaru was staring - no, gaping.

"What? It's two am." Ruka scowled, stretching, "can't I be sleepy?"

Hotaru's eyebrows shot to her hairline. She was still gaping.

Ruka looked down. "Oh." He voiced, for he remembered he was only dressed in boxers. And he stretched, bare chest and all, in front of Hotaru. He blinked. "Right. I should put on some clothes." He looked behind him where his clothes lay strewn around the carpet. He made a noise between a grunt and a groan. "Meh. You'll live." He turned back to the camera. "It's not a good time, Hotaru."

"What could be more important right now?" Hotaru finally peeled her eyes off his upper body and onto his face.

"I don't know," Ruka rolled his eyes, "let me think - _sleep?"_

"I need to know about Everyone."

"Right now?" Ruka frowned reluctantly, glancing towards his bed longingly. "Can't you call me in five hours?"

"No."

Ruka sighed, placing his hand in his chin - and flexing his chest muscles, again, Christ, he may be talking to Hotaru but she was still a woman. "Let me think, Sumire's fine -"

"No, the cyber activist group Everyone, idiot."

With a slight frown, his eyes strayed to his digital clock. "Called idiot twice within five minutes." he looked back to his laptop, facing Hotaru, "almost beat my record."

Hotaru was about to roll her eyes, state his name in the no-nonsense way that she does, but she was interrupted by another female voice.

"Ruka?" The voice was definitely female. Hotaru narrowed her eyes as Ruka turned to look behind him. "Who are you talking to?"

His hand immediately went to his hair, running a hand through it sheepishly. A head popped out from under the bedsheets, where a woman with long blonde hair and dark brown eyes was blinking blearily at the policeman.

"Sorry." Ruka apologized sheepishly. "It's - it's nobody, go back to sleep, 'kay?" He turned back to the laptop to say, "I told it wasn't a good-" but he was cut off. Hotaru had ended the connection, but not before Ruka glimpse a furious expression on her face. Ruka stared at his laptop. "Hotaru?"

.

.

.

Koko strolled into the conference room, his eyes sweeping over the now normal state of things. Such as Sakura writing down progress reports - apparently Interpol wants them every other week, but Koko swore she wrote one just five days ago - while chewing her pen thoughtfully. Eriol was nowhere in sight, probably talking to his fiance. Anna and Kitsuneme talking and joking and flirting, or that's how Koko saw her hair flipping as. Mochu sitting next to Sakura and asking her out for the umpteenth time. Syaoran was obviously switching between being distracted by Sakura chewing her pen and sharply watching the interaction between Mochu and her. Natsume frowning at his laptop…

Yes, everything was normal - wait.

Hotaru glared at her keyboard, typing furiously. He ambled closer to her, plopping himself down to a seat next to her.

"You know there's a difference between 'keyboard' and 'punching bag' right?" Koko started, watching Hotaru amusedly. What could possibly have set her off this fine morning?

Hotaru paused long enough to send him a glare before turning angrily back to her laptop.

"Okay." Koko clicked his tongue. He peered over her shoulder. "Everyone. Huh. A cyber activist group?"

"Their slogan is 'we are Everywhere.' With a capital E."

"Really." Koko began to put two and two together. "And you thought maybe -"

"'Aoi is everywhere.'" Hotaru cut in impatiently. "It's obvious."

"-that Ms. Ibaragi, may her soul rest in peace, meant everywhere with a capital E."

"Yes." Hotaru responded with an annoyed, condescending tone.

"That's genius!" Koko clapped. "Who would've thought of that?"

Hotaru spat out a word that sounded oddly like 'Ruka' but Koko couldn't be sure.

"What?" Koko asked.

"Pinpointing their last location." Hotaru said instead. "Tell them to get ready."

"Who?" Koko looked around at the room. "Mochu and Kits, maybe?"

"No, the British people." Hotaru waved dismissively. "They can show their face around town."

"Oh, right." Koko rolled his eyes. "Almost forgot about that being dead situation and all." He sighed, they were fine traveling all over the world. It was just being so close to the Alices, he supposed, that it was more dangerous for them to be wandering around. Plus, London had CCTV cameras basically every five meters.

Koko turned to scan the room again. A grin suddenly spread across his face as an idea formulated in his mind.

"Sakura, Syaoran, you're up."

Both Brits looked up at his statement. Sakura blinked and Syaoran frowned. Both voiced, "what?"

"We got a location on a cyber activist group Everyone who we might think is connected to Aoi. So you two are gonna go there and check out the address." Koko explained. "Simple, hey?"

"Eriol has the car, though." Syaoran brought up a good point as he stood up.

Psh, not a problem. Koko turned to Sakura, "don't you have a car?"

Sakura looked incredibly embarrassed. "Yeah, I did…" She pulled at the ends of her hair nervously before finally stating, "see, Interpol took away my car after Syaoran basically trashed it last time."

Koko blinked. Did he hear that right? _Syaoran_ trashed her car? Syaoran? "What?"

"I didn't _trash_ it." The man protested. "They're being dramatic."

"The bumper came off." Sakura looked up at him dubiously.

"Because the cars behind us were impatient dolts."

"I have two shattered windows."

"Sometimes the turns are a little rough, alright?" Syaoran shrugged, but looked sorry. And so started an interaction between the two where Sakura stated parts of her car and Syaoran looked guilty while trying to defend himself.

"The coordinates are on your phone." Hotaru called out impatiently, indirectly telling them to get a move on.

Syaoran stepped toward the door decisively, "Okay, I'm driving."

"You are?" Sakura sounded oddly apprehensive. But then again, something about her car being taken away might explain it.

"A motorcycle." Syaoran scowled at her tone. "I can do motorcycles much better."

"I hope so." She muttered. "Don't you need a special driving licence for that sort of thing?"

"Yes, and I have one." Syaoran sounded hurt. "You'll see."

Koko watched as they left the room, still conversing lightly. "Aren't they cute?" He turned to the nearest person to him.

"No." Mochu scowled.

"Oh Mochu, you'll find someone." Koko patted his friend's bald head sympathetically.

.

.

.

Natsume was anxiously anticipating for Syaoran and Sakura to arrive at the address and say something through their Imai-Daidouji communication technology. Therefore, he was not expecting a phone call.

He looked at his phone with a frown.

Least of all from his best friend all the way in New York.

"What's the emergency?" He said as soon as he pressed answer, causing a few room occupants to look up curiously at him.

"Is Hotaru mad at me?" Ruka asked from the other line, sounding almost like a lovesick schoolboy.

"That's not an emergency." Natsume deadpanned.

"But Hotaru had some urgent business to discuss and we can't discuss it if she's mad at me."

"I fail to see the connection between that and calling me."

"Natsume, do me a favor and answer the question."

With a long-suffering sigh, Natsume glanced up at Hotaru. She was still typing furiously on her keyboard. "Does a rock get angry?"

"What?" There was a pause. "No..?"

"There you go."

Ruka was not amused. "Natsume, if this is your attempt at humor, I'm finding myself a new best friend."

Natsume scoffed. Best friend his ass. "You didn't even tell me you were contacting her." Despite the monotony of his voice, one could still hear the hurt, "You don't even contact me."

"Okay, first of all, I don't contact anyone. _She_ contacts me. And second of all, that's because _you_ don't contact me!" Ruka paused. "Are we really have this conversation right now?"

No, Natsume supposed not. "She's using her keyboard as punching bag." Natsume tried very hard to keep his gaze on the floor or the wall, anything but avoid eye contact now that Hotaru was burning holes in his skull. "She hasn't left her computer since six. She's castrating me in her mind right now."

"So she's mad."

"Yes."

"...okay."

"...good talk."

"Okay, wait." Ruka stopped his best friend from hanging up. "What should I do?"

Natsume couldn't keep the 'are you serious' look off his face. "Do I look like a relationship expert to you?"

"I can't see you right now."

So Natsume tried a different tactic. "You're asking the man who can't even keep the woman by his side for more than a year."

"Good point."

After a momentary pause in conversation, Natsume uncomfortably asked, "Are we done?"

"You know, just two minutes ago you were complaining about how we don't talk and now -"

Natsume hung up on his best friend. He went back to his laptop, still feeling the heat of Hotaru's glare. Oh well, they'll figure it out.

.

.

.

"Is that it?" Sakura peered around Syaoran's broad - and muscular - shoulder. She scrutinized the beautiful stone castle, resting majestically on top of a green hill. It was just meters from an abrupt cliff that met the calm ocean. The mansion was enclosed by a steel fence, and excessively large driveway, and at least two guards patrolling each side.

Syaoran drove his motorcycle past the house, earning the unblinking stare of the closest guards. As soon as they made it past a hill that obstructed their view of the house, Syaoran slowed down, stopping to turn around. Quietly, they hid the motorcycle on a grassy dune at the back of the house.

The pair sat just behind the hill, watching the guards patrol the grounds.

"Eight." Syaoran muttered. "Bit excessive, don't you think?"

"Not if we're at the right place." Sakura responded wisely. "So what now? Pick them off one by one?"

"It'll give away our position."

"Then we keep moving."

Syaoran considered the plan they had just concocted. "Alright, but I only brought one gun."

"Me too."

The pair looked to each other and laughed quietly. "We're mad." Syaoran voiced for the both of them as he took out his gun. Sakura already had hers at the ready. "Ready?"

Sakura nodded, crouching and half turned to the other side of the hill. "Set."

Both unlocked the safety on their gun. Syaoran was the one to say, "go." At once, the pair began shooting as they made their way separately towards the fence.

There was a pause in gunfire as the guards recovered from their surprise attack. Both Sakura and Syaoran took this time to quickly climb over the fence.

When the pair reunited behind a car parked on the cement driveway, Syaoran scowled at his partner. "Really?" Syaoran mouthed disapprovingly at Sakura. "Their hand?" Obviously, Sakura's a good shot. According to Syaoran, she just wasn't aiming at the right places.

"I don't want to kill them!" Sakura frowned, glancing at the injured guards. "They could have kids and a wife!" And they could've trained with her at the Academy or been on an Alices mission with her.

Syaoran popped his head up to fire off a few rounds before ducking back behind the car. "It's for the greater good!" He whisper-shouted at her.

"Oh, well, now that you said it that way," Sakura rolled her eyes sarcastically, "I'm sure their parents would understand."

"They're our enemy!" Syaoran hissed back, "How are we supposed to get anywhere if you're so -" he struggled for a word, "nice!"

"Why is it always good and evil with you?" Sakura responded, turning the argument back around to him instead.

Syaoran stared at her for a prolonged moment. He'd heard that statement before. "Whatever." He muttered. He still looked annoyed as he watched the activities on the grounds below. The pair ducked quickly when gunfire began rain on them.

"Fuck! The rest have been alerted." Syaoran exclaimed, glaring at Sakura. "Thanks to your sympathy for humanity." Sakura looked guilty, but not that sorry.

He didn't wait for her to respond. "They're piling out like ants." Syaoran spoke into the earpiece, ducking for the second time under his cover. "The whole get up looks like the Alices." He glanced up over the hill, getting a millisecond glimpse of the situation before ducking. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Sakura began to crawl away from him, moving their focus of ammunition away from Syaoran. He continued to update the team back in London, "They're organized and they definitely do not want us to get into whatever that place is."

"Sounds like you're at the right place." Yuu voiced thoughtfully in their ears. "You sound outnumbered too. I suggest you two retreat. I don't think trying to find out what's inside is worth dying for."

Syaoran rogered Yuu's suggestion. He crawled towards Sakura, gesturing to her that they better retreat. Sakura understood him perfectly. She started sprinting towards the exit as Syaoran covered for her by shooting at their attackers. She fell back behind a crate, now covering Syaoran with her gunfire as he sprinted to join her.

"Great! Now that the possibly of you two dying is very high," Koko's voice rang in their ears cheerfully, "Syaoran, it's the perfect time to, you know, ask Sakura, the you know."

Syaoran narrowed his eyes, scowling at the air. "Shut it," he growled. He popped his head above the crate to try to get in a few shots, but quickly ducked.

Sakura glanced at her temporary partner in confusion. "Ask what?"

"Oh, Syaoran knows." Kitsuneme's voice came just as cheerfully, "he's dying to ask."

Their laughter was loud in the two British agents' ears. "Good one!" Eriol exclaimed.

"Syaoran, I'm not hearing the question being asked." Koko called again. "It's just one sentence, Syaoran, just one-"

Syaoran pulled the earpiece out of his ear and threw it on the ground. The movement caused many of the Alices to start shooting at the inanimate object. It was soon obliterated by bullets.

Sakura stared at the battered piece of Imai-Daidouji equipment wide-eyed. "You-you don't have to ask. It's okay." She voiced amidst the sound of gunfire.

Syaoran glanced at her briefly. "It's not that - it's - nevermind." He turned his gaze back forward, eyeing the area where he hid their mode of transportation. "We have to get out of here. Run to the motorcycle, I'll cover you."

"You're the one driving." Sakura pointed out, jumping up to put in a few bullets of her own against the Alices.

"Right. You cover me." Syaoran nodded professionally. "I'll come back around this way." He crouched, getting ready to sprint.

"Hold on." Sakura unloaded her gun, reloading it with a full magazine. She looked up, nodding at Syaoran. "Okay, go." At the same time Syaoran started sprinting across the open lot, Sakura began shooting at all their attackers.

Syaoran, too, had a gun in his hand. He was aiding his partner by sprinting and shooting at the same time. But there were too many Alices shooting from all angles. Syaoran and Sakura couldn't get them all. A bullet had found its way onto Syaoran's dominant hand, causing him to drop his gun with a pained cuss. At least now, he was sprinting towards his motorcycle with much more haste.

Once he got to their transportation, he hid there for a moment. Syaoran ripped off a part of his shirt, wrapping it around his injured hand tightly.

The Alices were closing in on Sakura. And Sakura, well, she couldn't kill her fellow Alices. At least they got the memo not to kill her too. She could tell just by the way the bullets weren't getting closer than three meters around her. Still, they couldn't hold off for too long before they start capturing her to keep up appearances.

Soon enough, Syaoran's motorcycle pounced out of its hiding place, taking the Alices by surprise. Without stopping, Syaoran passed by Sakura's hiding place. She was ready, hopping on right behind Syaoran just as he sped out of the steel gates.

The bullets lodged themselves in the cement ground like breadcrumbs after them.

.

.

.

Rika picked up the phone for the fifth time that day, "Terada, honestly," She spoke into the phone knowing full well who called her. Or she thought she did. "Oh." Her expression changed to one of sheepishness and embarrassment. "Yes, of course, send him over...mhm...I'll take care of it. Thank you."

When she hung up the phone, she sat back with a sigh.

"So I'm guessing that wasn't your husband?" came a voice from the other side of the spacious office. One could barely discern the short mahogany locks from the stacks of papers.

"No." Rika agreed with another frustrated sigh.

"You two find something new to fight about every day." The other secretary of the floor shook her head, finally turning around to face her coworker.

"I know, Naoko." Rika frowned, walking over and sitting down on a pile of papers since there wasn't any other space on Naoko's desk. Naoko glanced at Rika's bum on the newly typed reports. She rolled her eyes. Rika continued obliviously, waving her arms about wildly. "It's just he's a college professor, you know? He doesn't understand the whole secrecy, classified thing and...I can't explain it to him."

"Did he have to call your work phone, though?" Naoko asked absently. She was writing neatly, in the type of handwriting her coworkers have said to look like a font.

Rika glanced at the other secretary sheepishly. She tugged at her hair. "Well…I kind of turned off my mobile…"

Naoko sent her a dry look, one of which Rika is very familiar with. Naoko shook her head at her, turning back to her paperwork. "Anyway, don't you have someone to 'take care of'?"

"Oh my gosh, yes." Rika hopped of the desk quickly, sending a few papers flying. At least she picked them up quickly, absently checking her watch. "I was supposed to meet him as soon as he got out of the lift. Thanks, Naoko!" She exclaimed as she made her way out, grabbing her coat.

"Who's he, anyway?" Naoko turned to call after her.

Rika whirled around, raising her arms in a frustrated manner. "I've not a clue! Nobody tells us anything anymore!" She turned back forwards, marching ahead. "Honestly!"

Pacing in front of the lift, for Rika had other things to do (and phone calls to answer), Rika patted down her dress shirt for the umpteenth time. Finally, the elevator ding-ed, and Rika was greeted with - "Goodness, the Americans have it all, don't they?"

"What?" The blonde man in his twenties blinked.

"Hi, I'm Rika." She smiled warmly, extending her hand as the man walked out of the elevator. "I'll be escorting you."

"Oh, thank you." The man smiled dazzlingly, returning the firm handshake. "I'm _Ru_ka."

The secretary hummed as she inconspicuously looked the man up and down. Good thing he hadn't noticed; he was too busy looking around the place like it was Disney World. Rika quickly led Ruka down the hall. Boy, she had the pace of a speed walker. At least Ruka had long legs to catch up with her.

"The NYPD, huh?" Rika noted out loud, after Ruka fully introduced himself. "We've never had a copper, here, not on this floor. Especially not an American one. But we do have a team of Americans here too."

"I know." Ruka chuckled lightly. He'd come to see one of them after all.

"Of course you do." Rika rolled her eyes, her tone betraying a hint of bitterness. "I'm always the last to know. You were across the pond and you still already know before me."

"Across the pond?" Ruka repeated to himself amusedly. He followed after the talkative 'secretary of the floor' while he twisted his thumbs anxiously.

"Alright, here you go." Rika gestured welcomingly to the conference room where eight members of the team were currently situated. She placed her hand on the door handle. "You need me to announce you?"

"No, no." Ruka protested a little too eagerly. Gently, he smiled gratefully. "That's okay, thank you."

"Uh huh." Rika pulled her hand away form the handle cheerfully, turning to leave. "Ring me if you need anything, okay?"

"Yeah, thank you." Ruka lifted a hand and nodded at her gratefully. He lingered before the door, working his own nerves up. Why did he come here anyway?

On the other side of the door, Koko was staring contemplatingly at the shadow. He and Mochu were speculating and at this point they've come up with a hypothesis.

"See, that was obviously a girl that left," Mochu was arguing, "look at that hourglass shape, man! And the strut."

"It has to be Tomoyo dropping Eriol off. And Eriol's just watching after her with lovesick puppy eyes." Koko explained to Mochu. "See, that's why he's just standing by the door."

Hotaru, sick of anything and everything at this point, muttered darkly. She stood up abruptly, putting the men's speculations to an end by going and wrenching open the door. She was not at all prepared for the sight that greeted her.

Ruka sputtered, "Hot-hota-hotaru! Hi!"

Hotaru stared blankly, her mouth open slightly as if she was about to say something. Then she slammed the door closed.

Koko and Mochu glanced at each other. Natsume stood up at the sound of his best friend's voice. Hotaru's face was stunned as she robotically walked back to her seat, sitting down.

This time, Natsume opened the door, but only a crack. Ruka gave him a hopeful smile. "Hey, buddy."

Behind Natsume's frame, Koko, Kitsuneme, and Mochu had jumped out of their seats, waving enthusiastically at the American policeman. Ruka raised his hand above Natsume's head, lifting his chin to greet them.

"Let me guess," Natsume leaned against the door frame with a frown. "You didn't come here for me."

"You're being a really sensitive ass right now." He tried to peer around him to see if Hotaru had sneaked out of the room yet. Focusing back on his dry best friend, Ruka lifted a shoulder. "I brought information. Or that's what I'm assuming you need because Hotaru was asking."

Natsume rolled his eyes. "I'm gonna ignore the fact that that sounded like a bribe." He pulled the door open wider so that Ruka could walk in.

He greeted his fellow Americans with toned down enthusiasm - a simple wave - compared to their excited exclamations of his name. He noted with relief that Hotaru was still in the room and there was only one exit, which he was standing next to.

"If I wanted to bribe you," Ruka smoothly responded to his best friend, "I would've mentioned that time I had to drive you everywhere for one week because your car was getting repaired."

"That was five years ago." Natsume shook his head, going back to his seat, which thankfully was on the other side of the room from Hotaru's. "Why do you still remember that?"

"The same reason I still remember -"

"Don't." Natsume interrupted, giving him a sharp look.

Ruka chuckled at his best friend. The mirth in his face was soon wiped away when he sat down next to Hotaru.

Hotaru continued typing away at her laptop with unnecessary force.

Ruka tapped the table awkwardly. He leaned back. He cleared his throat.

Hotaru was not at all bothered, or she didn't show it.

"So…" Ruka finally spoke up. His voice grew more confident with each word. "I was part of an investigation into Everyone."

"Oh, Hotaru mentioned something about that!" Koko brought up. "Said their motto was 'they are Everywhere'. With a capital E."

"Oh, did she?" Ruka couldn't keep the smile off his face as he glanced at the said woman. The said woman remained stoic. He turned back to the interested party. "Everyone is your typical cyber activist group with the whole freedom of information mantra and hacking into government systems." He leaned forward to explain to the expectant faces. "They're a pain in the ass. There's me trying to find out who's behind it, and then there's IT at the bureau - any government organization, really - trying to protect the system and keep their jobs."

Natsume raised his brows at him, silently asking him what'd he find.

"This is where, I think, it gets interesting." Ruka sighed as he look directly at his best friend. "We pinpointed it down to Cornell University for a short while."

Natsume sat up immediately, "At the same time -"

"Then it makes sense!" Koko exclaimed, pointing towards Hotaru for the second time that day.

"Yeah, at the same time your sister studied there." Ruka confirmed Natsume's statement, referring to Aoi. He turned to Koko, "what makes sense?"

"We got a tip that quote, 'Aoi is Everywhere' end quote. So maybe she meant it with a capital E. I mean," Koko shrugged. "She never explicitly said 'capital E, everywhere,' but…"

Ruka nodded slowly. "But she studied veterinary, not computer science."

"She doesn't have to study it to know it." Anna piped up surely.

"Or to know someone who knows it." Nonoko added.

"Yeah…" Ruka spoke up thoughtfully, he seemed as if ready to say something revolutionary. But his phone rang. He sighed, standing up. He raised the phone to his ear, and in a falsely bright voice, greeted, "Nogi." The other line apparently inquired too much. Ruka let out a frustrated exhale, pulling at his blond hair. "Yeah," he interrupted the other line, "I - I can't right now." He rubbed his forehead, and since the room was so silent, they could hear the other line had raised their voice. He glanced embarrassedly at the attentive team. He turned away, walking even closer toward the corner. Ruka spoke quietly. "Listen, listen - I can't. I'm not -" He was interrupted again. After a long moment of silence, Ruka suddenly raised his voice. "I'm in London!" His voice caused a few members to jump. He glanced behind him apologetically, turning back to speak more quietly. "Yes, London fucking England." He returned with agitation. Ruka pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, I'm still...yes!" He clenched his fist tightly in an attempt to alleviate his stress.

The team tried to move on without him. Koko awkwardly spoke up, "Do you think she's working for the Alices?"

Ruka muttered lowly into the phone, arguing with the other line.

"What would they need information for?" Yuu spoke up. He frowned as he tried to fit the idea of cyber hacking into the Alices' usual motives. "It doesn't make sense."

"This is war." Mochu frowned. "They need that info to hit where it hurts, ya kno?"

Hotaru didn't join the conversation nor did she budge from her computer. But she did type gentler, as if she was also trying to hear Ruka's conversation. Unfortunately for her, Ruka had paced to the other side of the room. Natsume had a better chance of hearing his conversation.

"They were fine before." Natsume grumbled.

Abruptly, Ruka raised his voice for the second time in the phone conversation, "I have a lead!" The other line said something infuriating, for Ruka opened his mouth to retort. He didn't get to. Ruka removed the phone from his ear, glaring at it. He clenched it tightly, lifting it, and getting ready to throw it against the wall.

Ruka shook his head. With a sigh, he ambled towards the nearest seat. He plopped down next to Natsume.

The team glanced at each other, unsure of what else to say in the sudden halt in conversation.

"Sorry," Ruka smiled apologetically at his fellow Americans. "Just give me a minute." He looked down at his phone again, dialing another number. He waited patiently for the other line to pick up. "Hey, it's me." He muttered into the phone. "Yeah…that happened." At least this person seemed much nicer. Ruka chuckled lightly at the other's joke. "Send it over. Yeah, thanks." He let a gentle smile settle on his face as he looked up. His aqua blue eyes landing straight on Hotaru. "No - not a vacation. I have a lead." He paused, rolling his eyes. "I know he doesn't believe me…Alright, you hang in there." Ruka hang up in much better spirits this time.

Natsume muttered lowly so that only Ruka could hear. "You could've worked for the FBI. You could still."

Ruka shook his head at him, just as quietly responding. "You know why I don't."

"You'll be doing the same thing." Natsume frowned, indicating that he really didn't. "And getting paid the amount you deserve."

"The FBI ignores a lot of things, Natsume." Ruka set his phone flat on the table, not at all noticing seven other pairs of eyes watching them carefully. "The gang fight in Brooklyn, the abused daughter in the Upper East end. These people deserve a lot more -"

"-than the incompetent dumbasses you work with?" Natsume finished the sentence for him.

Ruka sent him a disapproving look. But he did chuckle lightly in agreeance. He finally noticed the awkward silence across the table with the other Americans. He smiled gently at them. "Right, so Everyone." He put on his NYPD first grade detective voice. "Thing is, I think this whole freedom of information mumbo jumbo is a front." He stood up, pacing around the room as if giving a presentation. "They hacked into FBI" He counted off his fingers as he continued, "the secret service, Arab Intelligence, CIA, DEA, NSA...recently MIA and Interpol."

"And the catch?" Koko asked, sensing the 'but' in his voice.

"The information they posted is completely harmless." Ruka crossed his arms, his tone turning dubious as he continued, "You hack into FBI clearance Level Nine - that's higher than all of your clearance levels - and you post controversial case histories from five years ago? You hack into the NSA and you post proof of government surveillance. This is stuff people already have suspicions about."

"So posting the information is just bullshit." Kitsuneme realized quickly.

"Maybe they're making a point," Yuu brought up. "Like they're saying that these agencies could easily be hacked into and they should get a better security system."

"What about blackmail?" It was the first time Hotaru spoke up since Ruka walked in the room. She didn't look up from the her computer.

Ruka seemed put off by her sudden participation. "Uh…" he regained his composure. "No signs of blackmail. There has never been direct contact with Everyone."

"Hotaru got an address for the current location of Everyone." Koko piped up cheerfully.

Ruka immediately resumed his seat next to Hotaru, studying her computer in interest. "Really, where?" He glimpsed over Hotaru's shoulder. There was a map of the United Kingdom with one dot moving amidst the street names. He focused on the area. "Liverpool?"

"Somewhere outside the city. We dispatched two British agents to go check out the place. They were completely blockaded off. They said it looked like the Alices." Yuu explained. "And they definitely didn't want them to find out because the Alices aren't just letting them retreat; they're going after them with heavy artillery."

"There's only one dot." Ruka observed. There was an awkward silence amongst the rest of the Americans. He looked up to look at the team. "On the map," he thought he had to explain. "there's only one dot. Did we lose one?"

Hotaru scowled, but said nothing.

Natsume was the one who answered. "The second one was smart enough to take off the tracking device Hotaru planted on her."

Ruka blinked. Maybe it wasn't smart to bring that up. "Oh." He referred back to their earlier flow of conversation before he got sidetracked. "yeah, that sounds like they're at the right place." He nodded professionally. Then he turned to Hotaru, resting his chin in his hand and his elbow on the table. "What do you think, Hotaru?"

Hotaru finally turned to meet his eye. Oh, if looks could kill. "I thought I was nobody." She growled out.

Ruka's response was immediate. He lifted his head from his arm, needing to throw them in the air. "So _that's_ why you're mad?"

Hotaru didn't respond, turning back to her laptop. Ruka wasn't having any of that. He stood up and grabbed her laptop. He ignored Hotaru's death threats as he placed the laptop very gently in front of Yuu. Yuu looked up at Ruka in wide protesting eyes, but Ruka paid him no attention.

"We need to talk." Ruka stated to the miffed woman when he marched back to her.

Hotaru wasn't budging from her chair. She crossed her arm, lifting her chin defiantly.

Ruka looked at Natsume, who rolled his eyes. Natsume stood up, clearing the room with his scolding look. Koko and Kitsuneme dragged their feet out with a pout. Yuu tried to escape without the laptop, but Ruka caught him. He grabbed the laptop and shoved it in Yuu's hands. Yuu tried not to whimper out loud.

As soon as the door closed, Ruka spoke up. He was standing next to her chair, but she refused to look up at him. "You know that's not what I think of you, Hotaru." Ruka quietly stated. His voice rose in agitation as he continued, "I flew across the goddamn Atlantic Ocean. You're obviously not nobody."

"That's not what you told her." Hotaru frowned, not turning around to look at him.

When nothing else was said, Hotaru was forced to turn around to make sure Ruka was still there. He was. There was an incredulous look on his face. "Are you jealous?" He exclaimed, the revelation evident in his voice.

"Don't be stupid." Hotaru answered immediately. That's a huge assumption to make. "I despise the fact that I'm not earning recognition where it's necessary and when the situation calls for it."

Ruka scoffed. "You never spoke a word of our relationship to anyone else. Why can't I keep it secret?"

Hotaru suddenly stood up. A flash of anger passed through her normally emotionless face. "There is no relationship."

"Then what are we, Hotaru?" Ruka questioned immediately, walked forward to lessen the distance between him and Hotaru. "You call me a couple times a month. You're pissed off because of one word. I flew three thousand miles to settle a dispute between us. Tell me what you think this is."

"It's a partnership."

"A partnership." Ruka repeated dubiously. He saw right through her. "I don't think so." When Hotaru didn't respond, he continued. "We're friends, aren't we? Maybe we're a little more than that."

Hotaru was a strong-willed independent woman. She was _independent._ She crossed her arms, her cold amethyst eyes hardening. She'll show him. "I don't believe in anything more. I contacted you for information."

"That's not what our conversations consisted of." He responded evenly. Ruka's clear cerulean eyes were now stormy and intense. Hotaru, never one to back down from a fight, moved backwards two steps. Just for good measure.

The policeman understood her, for some reason, he always understood her. "You're-"

Hotaru felt so relieved when the door opened abruptly and they were interrupted. Whatever Ruka was going to say, she didn't want it to come out. Maybe she wouldn't know how to deal with it. And Hotaru didn't like not knowing how to deal with things.

Yuu stood hesitantly in the doorway, Hotaru's laptop handled securely on one arm. He grimaced under the interrupted gazes of amethyst and aqua blue eyes. "Sorry…" he apologized, but he didn't move away from the door. "Hotaru, you need to see this."

.

.

.

Syaoran drove in the path of a snake, but it wasn't enough as a bullet grazed Sakura's leg. Dang it - the Alices had to pick a place just outside of Liverpool. There wasn't much cover. In fact, there wasn't any cover at all. They were driving on a single flat road surrounded by low grassy hills, followed by at least five cars.

"Hang on." Syaoran muttered as he tried to speed up, spotting the foggy tall buildings of a city up ahead. "Keep them busy."

"I'm trying!" Sakura responded in agitation. Sakura kept her left arm wrapped around Syaoran's waist as she extended her right arm in an attempt to shoot at their attackers. She shifted, twisted, and turned, but couldn't get a good aim. She only had one gun and she knew Syaoran lost his back at the Alices compound.

Syaoran cursed as a bullet ricocheted off the handle and grazed his shoulder. They couldn't get there fast enough.

"I can't shoot at them!" She shouted in the agent's ear.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Syaoran responded over his shoulder.

Sakura needed to turn around, but if she let go of Syaoran, she wasn't going to stay on the motorcycle for long. "You got a belt?" She asked hopefully.

Syaoran sent a strange look, "what - no."

Okay, so that idea was out. Sakura spotted a hill ahead. An idea popped up in her mind. She wasn't sure if Syaoran was going to like it but...oh well. "Turn right, over there, and stop!"

At this, the Brit spared an incredulous glance over his shoulder as he did as she told. "Stop? Are you mad?"

"Maybe." Sakura mumbled, quieter now that the roar of the motorcycle was dulled. She hopped off the motorcycle as he pulled to a stop, looking behind him anxiously as he did so. He turned back to his front only to find her standing beside him with a sheepish expression. "Scoot back." She motioned with her fingers.

With a curious expression, he moved back on the motorcycle chair. "What do you think you're -" He swallowed the rest of his words with wide eyes. Sakura had calmly sat in the space in front of him, facing him, with her back to the motorcycle handles. She had kept her few inches of distance, securing her legs on the two sides of the motorcycle. She looked everywhere but on his face as she scanned the surrounding behind him with her gun raised.

"Comfortable?" He managed to utter quietly in her ear as he started up the engine again.

"I'm just trying to shoot accurately and not die." Sakura explained through gritted teeth.

"So I'm your human shield?" Syaoran rose a brow at her.

"It's for the greater good." Sakura responded smugly.

"Ha ha." Syaoran scowled at her, but it didn't last long. A slight smirk made its way up his face as Sakura rested her arm on his shoulder to steady her gun hand.

"Don't get any ideas." Sakura added, quickly interpreting the look on his face.

"What ideas?" He responded as they sped out from under their grassy cover and into the open again.

She spared another glance up at him. He wasn't looking at her, but there was that smirk and mirth in his eyes. He definitely knew what she was talking about. She huffed, focusing on the movements behind them.

She focused on the black Sedan speeding after them. _Bam! Bam! _She neatly took out the wheels, forcing the car to swerve and cause a Domino effect with the cars behind it.

_Bam! Bam! _Sakura frowned. She had missed, the bullets lodging securely into a paved road. She blamed the zigzag movement of her targets and Syaoran's snake-like driving.

"How am I supposed to shoot accurately when you're driving like that?" Sakura exclaimed, shouting above the roar of the wind and the motorcycle's engine.

"Just because I'm your human shield doesn't mean I actually want to get shot." Syaoran returned with a roll of the eyes.

"You're wearing a bulletproof vest!"

Syaoran gave her a look of incredulity, exclaiming, "It still hurts!"

Suddenly, Syaoran jerked sharply to his right - Sakura's left. With a small yelp, she veered to her left, reflexively hanging on to the man by the neck with both of her arms.

"You did that on purpose." Sakura accused when Syaoran straightened the motorcycle.

"Now who's the one getting ideas?" The Brit responded with a smug smirk.

Sakura huffed, deciding to focus back on the cars chasing them.

.

.

.

"I think Everyone made contact." Yuu set the laptop down in front of Hotaru as the A Team plus Ruka crowded around her.

_179 09 17396927 196 0 73 198_

Hotaru's forehead was concentrated as she ran the message through encryptions and the letters turned into numbers. Hotaru's efforts were in vain, however, for the message kept changing.

_H78 0F 1902HAL8 1H9 X 1U H9W_

"Is it a message? An encrypted file being sent? A sort of code?" Koko frowned, shaking his head.

Natsume waved at Yuu, "get Eriol." Yuu nodded, hastily ambling off.

"Eriol?" Ruka mouthed to Natsume.

"MIA." Natsume answered. Within two minutes, Yuu had come back with the British agent in tow.

"Why, hullo, who's this?" Eriol exclaimed in surprise, taking Ruka's hand and shaking it heartily.

"Ruka, NYPD." Ruka smiled kindly at the mind.

"Another one from the colonies, huh?" Eriol asked, meaning to learn more about the man. It wasn't quite the right circumstances. Koko called for his attention in deciphering the message. Koko caught him up quickly with the current circumstances as Eriol watched the numbers and letters keep changing on the computer screen.

"No, no running through different decryptions isn't going to work." Eriol finally spoke up as soon as he gained full grasp of the situation. "You need to create an algorithm specifically for this encryption."

"I don't have a solution code." Hotaru responded agitatedly.

"We'll make do." Eriol sat down next to the woman. "The letters, numbers, and symbols keep rotating but not the amount of them, see, there's three, then two..." Hotaru seemed to be understanding where he was going with the explanation as she quickly typed in a different window than where the code is coming in. It was some kind of computer language and she filled up the window quickly. Eriol continued muttering his observances as Hotaru processed and created a code based on his ideas.

_HAL XC ILQJHALD JUS A VE NUQ_

As the pair continued, the message continued changing, but it was slowly forming a decipherable thought. At least to the two technicians, it was.

_A#2 I% 8VE(&6$E A8 5 9^ A#2_

_A#I IS EVER&O$E AN I AM A#I_

Natsume moved closer, peering over their shoulder. Finally, Hotaru had completed the decrypting algorithm.

"Well damn." Koko breathed. He grinned proudly at his team members, even patting the ones closest to him heartily. "We made it, fam."

_AOI IS EVERYONE AND I AM AOI_

.

.

.

The chased pair had finally arrived into the city, fortunately with no major bullet wounds. At least they'll have more cover here.

The motorcycle sped down the streets, weaving in and out of civilian traffic as bullet ricocheted off of civilian cars around them. It turned at an angle as Syaoran quickly turned them into an alleyway. But not before catching a torrent of gunfire.

Realizing that the enemy had lodged a bullet in one of his wheels, Syaoran quickly took his hands off the motorcycle handles. He rested them gently on Sakura's waist. Before she could react, he pulled themselves off the motorcycle. They rolled on the hard cement ground just as the motorcycle crashed against a car parked in the alleyway.

The pair stopped rolling near the end of the alleyway, just before a corner. Syaoran was on top. He glanced at his crushed motorcycle, sighing in relief. At least they had avoided that fate. He turned his gaze down to find unblinking Emerald eyes staring in surprise up at him.

Syaoran found himself frozen in her gaze.

"It's not an idea," Syaoran found himself muttering quietly, "not really."

Sakura couldn't respond, her voice suffocated by their approximity.

"It's a hunch." The Brit bowed his head, his eyes never straying from hers. "Maybe you like me too."

"A hunch?" Sakura managed to breathe.

"And a hope." Syaoran added in a voice so quiet, he might as well have whispered it. He leaned in. Contrarily to most reactions, Sakura's eyes widened.

Sakura caught sight of movement from the corner of her eyes. With a reaction as fast as lightning, she rolled on top of Syaoran, then off of him, and pulled him behind the corner. They were just in time to avoid bullets ricocheting off the brick wall. Sakura crouched, not looking at him as she took her handgun out from the back of her trousers. "It's probably not a good time." She muttered.

"No." Syaoran, too, got onto his feet. He leaned his back against the brick wall, breathing deeply. "Probably not."

Sakura ignored the disappointment in his tone. She tried to shoot back with her own handgun, but no bullets came out. Deftly, she took out the magazine, looking at it. She turned to Syaoran with a helpless look. "I'm out."

Syaoran patted his pockets down. He doesn't have any spare magazines. He glanced down the other end of the alleyway. "Okay, we're gonna run down that way, go around the building, and attack him from…" Syaoran's voice faded when he turned to find himself looking at thin air. "Sakura?" He glanced over the corner, his frustration prevalent when he realized she had done. "Bloody woman!"

Sakura was sprinting from behind a big dumpster to the car across the street. She made her way towards the shooter by ducking bullets and covertly moving from cover to cover. Syaoran tried to making his way out, but their attacker quickly caught sight of him. He ducked behind the corner muttering curses.

With the attacker's ammunition now divided between Syaoran and Sakura, the undercover Alice made her way towards the attacker even faster between gaps of gunfire. There was a long pause in ammunition; apparently the shooter was reloading. Syaoran took this chance to run across the alleyway, halfway there. Sakura, on the other hand, was already there.

Syaoran nodded, and Sakura pounced. She landed on the attacker just as his bullets went flying. Syaoran, thankfully, was following its trajectory. With his sharp eyes, he noticed with alarm that the car's gas tank had been punctured, and it was leaking. The wet trail was leading towards Syaoran's battered motorcycle.

He sprinted towards Sakura. Through the movement of limbs, he wound his arm around Sakura's waist, disentangling her from the attacker.

Sakura was running backwards for a total of two steps before she whirled herself around and Syaoran let go of her waist. Though unaware of the situation, Sakura wisely followed his lead, sprinting as far away as possible.

With a resounding _boom!_ the ground fell from the pair - or rather, the pair was lifted from the ground by the explosion. They landed unceremoniously a few meters away, their arms already raised to protect their heads. A few burning car parts landed around them.

Their attacker was not so lucky as to avoid the catapulted debris or the explosion itself.

The Brit and undercover Alice rolled on ground, trying to shake the ringing out of their ears.

"You alright?" Syaoran breathed. He crawled on his elbows, painfully bringing himself up to a sitting position.

Sakura hadn't heard him, but she read his lips. She nodded, breathing heavily, and getting to her feet. She stumbled unsteadily. She slid to the ground instead, sitting next to Syaoran. She pointed at him, mouthing, 'you?'

Syaoran nodded, too. They sat there for a while until their hearing returned, not budging when curious locals ambled closer to look at the damage.

Looking up, he noticed some of the locals had tried to approach him and his temporary partner. He waved a hand to indicate that they were fine. The locals did eventually walk away, but not before shooting them a strange and curious look.

He turned to Sakura, meaning to tell her that they better go. His eyes looking over her torn clothing. That's when he noticed it.

With the blink of an eye, Sakura's wrist was in Syaoran's hands. "What's this?" He asked, concern lining the edge of his voice. He examined the signs of electric shock on her wrist.

Sakura bit her lip. She was touched by his concern but… She pulled her hands away gently. "It's nothing." She didn't want to meet his eyes. "Something from an Interpol mission."

"That doesn't look like your usual scrape, Sakura." Syaoran pushed on, searching for her eyes.

Sakura let out a grateful smile, as if to say 'thank you for sounding so worried about me'. She finally met his strong amber gaze. She almost caved. But she kept that smile on her face as she tapped his shoulder gently with her hand. "Don't worry about it, okay?"

Syaoran frowned, but didn't say anything more.

Trying to ease up the tension, Sakura's eyes wandered to the small trail of blood by Syaoran's right side. "You should worry about yourself." Forgetting herself, she grabbed his bloodied right hand, wrapped up crudely in a sliver of his shirt - which was completely soaked in his blood. Syaoran winced immediately, biting back a pained groan. "Sorry." Sakura whispered, placing Syaoran's hand gently back where it came from.

.

.

.

Aoi had somehow forged a cyber connection in a heavily encrypted messaging system that mirrored a chat box. She had even devised a space for Hotaru to respond.

**Are you working for the Alices?**Hotaru typed in response. They watched as their message ran through different codes: **a45 %8) w170i6# f26 t8e A94%e#?**It went on ten different times until finally, it disappeared.

As abruptly as Hotaru's message disappeared, Aoi message appeared. Three were coming in at once. After running through Hotaru's algorithm, they were deciphered.

_No._

_Good thinking luring my guards away._

_I don't have a lot of time._

"Luring her guards away?" Yuu read aloud. "So Syaoran and Sakura went to the right place."

Kitsuneme had another thought coming. "Aoi did all that herself? Why?"

"Information." Natsume responded. There was a tinge of pride in his voice. "She's finding things out herself."

"Speaking of information," Koko brought up a point that's been bothering him for a while. "I definitely understand her concentration on American intelligence, and I get MIA and Interpol. But Arab Intelligence? That's so random."

Hotaru nodded, typing her response. Now that they know this is Aoi, they figure it's safe to reveal themselves. **This is the A Team. Why hack Arab intelligence? **

It took a moment, but Aoi finally responded. _I did it for Mikan._

Hotaru looked up at Natsume, and she knew the question in the forefront of his mind. So she asked it. **How's Mikan?**

_It's not good, she's sent on missions non-stop._

_He knows you are alive. _

_Mikan's dead the second she stops being useful to him._

Natsume ran an agitated hand through his hair while the rest of the team reacted just as anxiously. Eriol watched the reactions acutely, saving his questions for later.

**Hang in there. We're going to get you.**

The response was quick. _NO! He needs me for later. Don't make the situation worse!_

"Later what?" Koko spotted the slip up quickly.

**What's Kuonji planning? What war is he waging?**

_Is that Master's name?_

_You should watch the news more often._

"She answered neither questions directly." Even Anna was feeling frustrated with their ambiguous sources of information.

**Then what do you want us to do?**

_Find Mikan! _

"Well, duh!" Kitsuneme responded in frustration as soon as he read the message. "It's harder than it sounds!"

**How? Where is she?**

_Everywhere._

**You're not helping.**

_There's one place she always has to go back to. It's where all Alices come and go._

**Their headquarters. Where is it?**

_You're in the right country. Think like a criminal and you'll find it._

"Why can't anybody ever just give us a dang address?!" Mochu exclaimed.

.

.

.

The awkward silence was so tense in the air, one could cut it with a knife. It had been that way since MIA picked them up from Liverpool with a helicopter, and even after they both were looked after by MIA-employed emergency doctors and nurses. (Thankfully, Syaoran's bloodied hand was wrapped up properly with bandages and he hadn't lost too much blood). Now, the pair were strolling into the MIA building.

Sakura knew the cause of the tension was her fault, and yet she didn't know how to fix it.

She stole another look at Syaoran profile as they ambled down the corridor back to their conference room.

Or maybe she did.

"Syaoran…" Sakura spoke up. She bit her lip hesitantly for a moment before finally blurting out, "now's a good time."

Syaoran turned to her with knitted eyebrows and a confused frown. His eyes lingered on her shy smile. "For what?"

She didn't answer verbally. Instead, Sakura swivelled to face him. She reached out with her arms, wrapping around his neck and pulling his head down to meet hers.

He reacted as soon as her lips landed on his. Syaoran wrapped one arm around Sakura's petite waist and rested one arm on her back. He pulled her to a side while dipping her just a little. The kiss was sweet, soft, powerful, and everything at once.

Sakura couldn't concentrate. Everything was exploding within her and just - Sakura pulled herself closer, her hand mussing up Syaoran's already messy Chestnut hair.

When they parted, Syaoran slowly and very reluctantly let Sakura go. She let her arms hang by her side.

Sakura stepped back, looking down at the ground. A heavy blush was present on her cheeks. Syaoran blinked at the opposite wall, mouthing, 'wow'.

Since when did Sakura get so impulsive? Still, it was _so_ worth it. Not knowing what else to do, Sakura bit her lip, twiddled her fingers, then proceeded to skip down the hall.

"Sakura - hey." Syaoran stopped her, but he didn't know what to say.

Sakura turned around immediately, tilting her head questionably.

"Look, I - um, so - I was thinking…" He anxiously tugged at his shirt. "I was wondering if...see, we kissed..and so I thought we'd...um…"

"Yes?" Sakura stepped closer with a leading smile on her face. It seemed like she couldn't stop smiling around this guy.

Syaoran ran a hand through his already tousled chestnut locks. "I...um….I'm - I'm in a spot of trouble, see, and uh…we could - we, um, if you wanna go somewhere."

"Sure, okay." Sakura agreed, despite her confusion. It was clear on her face she would agree to anything he said, anyway. "Yeah...Go where?"

"Yeah?" The Brit couldn't believe his luck. "There's a, uh, um…" He racked his brain for a restaurant, a cafe, or something nearby. "You want French or Chinese or - there's fish and chips down near Liverpool station."

"Is there?" Sakura asked, her eyes rolled upward as she tried to think if there was. Honestly, she only memorized London's street map, not its area map.

"Yeah…" Syaoran half-turned, gesturing with his arm behind him, "so do you wanna…?"

"Oh, right now?" Sakura was thrown off, causing Syaoran to look sheepish. Clearly, Syaoran wasn't very good at this.

"Any-anytime, really." Syaoran reasoned, shrugging. His stuffed his hands in his pockets, feeling like a young schoolboy. "Whenever…"

"No, yeah, right now works." Sakura nodded agreeably, tugging at the ends of her soft brown hair. "Yeah…"

"Yeah, okay." Syaoran grinned, twisting his body around one hundred eighty degrees. "Let's go."

As they walked side by side down the hall, the pair glanced shyly at each other intermittently. They barely walked a hundred meters before Eriol passed by. He sent Syaoran an amused look along with both raised eyebrows.

Syaoran shook his head just slightly at him, frowning. He mouthed, 'what?' He had to turn sideways since they were walking opposite directions in the hallway.

Eriol mouthed something quickly, pointing at Sakura's back. Syaoran narrowed his eyes at him. He scowled as he lifted his hand in some kind of gesture.

Their interaction was quickly cut off when Sakura turned to Syaoran obliviously, "Syaoran?"

"Sorry?" Syaoran turned his full attention immediately back to her, clasping his hands together.

Eriol rolled his eyes, continuing forward.

"What was the trouble you were having?" Sakura asked.

"Uh…well….It's a surprise." His eyes searched the hallway, as if the answer may be printed on the walls. That's a good one, Syaoran. "I'll show you when we get there."

Just in time, Koko strolled down the hallway towards the pair. Where did he come from?

Sakura smiled brightly back with slightly furrowed eyebrows. But Koko's attention was more focused on Syaoran. He winked at the nonplussed British agent, who scowled at him.

Kitsuneme was right behind his American buddy, giving them a cheerful thumbs up.

Sakura responded with a confused thumbs up in return while Syaoran sent him a dark look. He smiled charmingly at Sakura, ignoring the two Americans, and placed a gentle hand on her back. He led her quickly away.

.

.

.

Aoi glanced behind her for the umpteenth time, making sure the door was still closed. She listened carefully. It didn't sound like anybody was coming.

She gently tapped the keys in the fastest speed she could muster. _Mikan goes all over the world on her missions but she always has to come back. So does everyone else. How do you think she travels?_

**By air? **

Well, they're getting somewhere. Aoi began typing her response, _It's huge, it's like a military base. They need to get in and out really fast any time without question -_

"What are you doing?" A dark, angry voice hissed.

The young Hyuuga gasped, jumping out her skin and stumbling in her chair. She turned around abruptly, hopefully covering the computer screen with her small frame. She came face to face with dark brown eyes and a star tattoo. "Sha-Shadow!" She greeted in faux cheerfulness, for Aoi only ever knew the codenames of the Alices she encountered. "I was - I was just, uh, see, everyone left in a panic and I got really…" Aoi's speech failed her as The Shadow heartlessly pushed her aside. Her eyes widened when he scanned the computer screen silently. He was one of the commanders of The Hub - the Alices' technology center and lab - after all.

"Please," Aoi begged with a shaky breath and a pounding heart. She knew it was risky, she knew. "I was - I was practicing how- how encryption worked. Yeah, um, I watched some other people -"

"First, my name's Tsubasa. Second, you're a horrible liar." Tsubasa rolled his eyes, shaking his head at her. Aoi swallowed thickly, pulling herself and her chair closer when Tsubasa began typing on the computer. Aoi caught a glimpse of the message before it was encoded and sent.

_NO MORE CONTACT_

Aoi's brows knitted in confusion at Tsubasa's actions. She opened her mouth to say something, but, well, what does she say? She continued to watch as Tsubasa methodically began to completely destroy evidence of the interaction. He then picked the laptop apart with great attention to detail. He placed them neatly on the floor.

Tsubasa stood up. Finally, he looked at Aoi. "Close the door," he commanded. When Aoi only stared at him blankly, Tsubasa ordered sharply, "close the door and stand by it."

Aoi quickly hopped to her feet and did as she told. With Tsubasa's tone of voice, she didn't dare disobey him.

From his coat, Tsubasa produced a smooth handgun. On one side was an engraved Alices symbol, indicating its origins from The Hub. He reached into his other side pocket, producing a silencer.

Aoi braced herself against the door, her breath quickening. She watched with wide eyes as Tsubasa unlocked the safety on the gun.

He then proceeded to shoot every single piece of laptop that he placed on the ground. Aoi, not quite used to the dangerous Alice experience, jumped at the sound of the bullet striking metal.

Tsubasa used up his entire round of bullets, making sure each computer part was destroyed beyond repair. He pocketed his gun, picked up the battered pieces and threw them in the trash can. He glanced at Aoi, raising a brow at her frightened reaction. "You never seen someone shoot before?"

Aoi blinked, shaking her head timidly. She did have a very sheltered life under Master's strict conditions. Quietly, shyly, she spoke up, "Why are you helping me?"

Tsubasa sighed. He picked up a stool by the wall, setting it down on the now empty desk. He tilted his head towards the vacated seat in front of him. "Sit down."

Aoi did as she was told, sitting down slowly with a curious expression.

Tsubasa checked his watch. "We have a few minutes before the rest of them make it back." He muttered to himself. He looked up at Aoi, his brown eyes meeting her soft scarlet ones. "Listen," he leaned forward, "can you keep a secret?"

"Of course." Aoi smiled, eager to hear it.

"Have you heard of the Alice, Misaki?" Tsubasa asked.

Aoi shook her head without taking her eyes off of him.

Tsubasa's brown eyes glazed over reminiscently, his eyes wandering toward the ceiling. He spoke in a soft, thoughtful voice. "We trained together at the Academy."

.

.

.

"Dammit!" Natsume slammed his fist onto the glass table. Fortunately, the glass was double layered and reinforced. Unfortunately, Natsume's hand hurt.

The team glared silently at the computer screen.

_NO MORE CONTACT_

"Maybe we could go to that address again…?" Nonoko suggested, her eyes searching the team's gaze uncertainly.

"It's no use," Hotaru responded evenly. "They must have cleared out by now."

Natsume paced some more, clenching and unclenching his fist. he glanced around the room, now only noticing some absences. "Why aren't Syaoran and Sakura back yet?"

"Actually, they came back, then they went on a date." Eriol piped up with a cheerful grin. Koko and Kitsuneme bore identical looks.

Mochu was not at all happy. "What? _Him?_ Why Syaoran?" He grumbled, crossing his arms.

"He didn't even have to ask her out, she just agreed!" Kitsuneme exclaimed, awed by the apparent charm of the Brit.

"And he still gets the girl?" Mochu scowled, glaring at the wall. "I ask her out daily."

Koko, Kitsuneme, and Eriol sniggered. Anna patted his back sympathetically. Natsume rolled his eyes, and Hotaru frowned at her laptop.

"It's the British accent, isn't it?" Mochu spoke up again in a defeated tone.

"Eriol's already hooked and now Syaoran gets the girl." Kitsuneme speculated, "Hm, I do see a pattern."

"So...who's Sakura and Syaoran?" Ruka finally spoke up for once, confusion marring his charming features. But before anyone could explain to him, his phone rang. He picked it up with all seriousness. "Nogi." He listened for a few beats. "yeah, alright, I'm on my way back. No, hang on to it. I'm on my way back." He repeated the fact of his return a few more times before he finally hung up with the other line. Ruka smiled at his audience humorously. "Yeah, I'm going back to my life of stale donuts, dirty subway tunnels, and needy coworkers."

"It's a wonder why you took a one day vacation, really." Eriol responded dryly.

Ruka chuckled, holding out his hand for a handshake with the MIA agent. "New York's actually not bad at all. You should come visit when you have the chance."

Thus, he made his way to each team member, saying his goodbyes and wishing them good luck on their endeavors. Finally, he approached Hotaru.

"Goodbye." Ruka voice quietly with a gentle smile on his face.

Hotaru didn't meet his eye. "You know I don't believe in that."

"You don't believe in a lot of things." Ruka chuckled softly. He paused a second more, as if wanting to say more or do something or wait for her to react somehow. But nothing transpired. Abruptly, he turned around, leaving the team to shout their farewells after him.

Hotaru didn't know why she felt empty.

.

.

.

"I didn't believe in love." Tsubasa stated bluntly. "I believe in protection, trust, care, and honesty. But not love. Not until it grew on me."

"Grew on you?"

"She grew on me." The Elite admitted with a ghost of a smile on his features. "She was at the Academy first. I came later, at age fifteen. We were friends. Even best friends. We covered for each other. When Sakura and Mikan pranked Misaki, I would team up with Misaki to prank them back. When Misaki was sick, I'd take notes for once and hand it to her. Sometimes, I'd help Sakura and Mikan prank her, just for fun. But mostly, we covered for each other. Even after we graduated…" Tsubasa trailed off, his thoughts going back to his more youthful years. He shook himself out of it a minute later, his eyes returning back to Aoi's fascinated gaze. "We were a good team."

"What happened?" Aoi knew it was coming by the tone of his voice. Even so, when his eyes turned dark and pained, the unmasked feelings hit her straight in the heart. It was bittersweet to watch.

Tsubasa gritted out lowly. "Academically, she could've been an Elite. But...skills-wise, she just wasn't quite there. She was a Level Eight. We saw the difference when we were out in the field but we never treated her any different. Not me, anyway. We were a good team. But Master thought she was holding me back, he thought she was baggage. He sent us out to a mission he knew she wouldn't survive."

"So she…" Aoi breathed, so engaged in the story.

"I watched her die." Tsubasa met Aoi's wide scarlet ones. The pain and suffering is apparent in his features. Through his eyes, Aoi saw him grasp Misaki's limp body, yell at her to wake up, and curse at the cruelty of one man who controlled them all. "He kicked her off of the chess board when she no longer served to be useful."

"Did she know?" Tsubasa blinked at the young lady. Aoi repeated herself, treading softly, "Did she know you were in love with her?"

Tsubasa thought about it for a long moment. "Maybe she did," he muttered quietly. "Maybe she did."

"You never told her." Aoi gasped.

"I didn't realize how strong my feelings were until after." Tsubasa confessed. "I always...we called ourselves best friends but on the inside I think we knew we were more than that, we just...We never said it out loud. It might ruin what we had."

Aoi sat there quietly, just processing everything. When Tsubasa spoke up again, she was immediately hanging on to his every word.

"So here it is: I hate Master. I hate his fucking guts and I'm still working for him. And I hate myself for being a coward. I hate myself for just waiting for someone to stand up to him and helping them when it's necessarily because I don't have the balls to do it myself."

"I think it takes strength." Aoi spoke up, drawing Tsubasa's downcast eyes to her. "I think after seeing what the Master did to who you love, anyone else would've obeyed his every word. But you're taking risks, and I think that takes strength."

The Elite smiled gratefully at her. "Love is a powerful motivation." Tsubasa's warm brown eyes focused back on Aoi's awed scarlet ones. "It makes you risk it all and think it's all worth it. Love is powerful, Aoi, don't you forget that."

"I won't." Aoi responded obediently.

"Good." Tsubasa stood up, patting Aoi's head affectionately. He walked towards the door. "Looks like they're coming back." He turned around with a smirk, "you're gonna need to tell The Engineer why his laptop is gone."

"Oh no!" Aoi groaned. "What am I supposed to say?"

"Dunno." Tsubasa shrugged with a mischievous grin. "Sucks to be you," he laughed at her before strolling cheerfully out the door.

It does feel a lot better to get the secret off his chest. He only hoped Aoi could keep it secret.

.

.

.

Syaoran and Sakura sat across each other at the casual dining place. Sakura looked around in awe. She had never been on a real eating out adventure like this. Her eyes returned to the table. Her cheeks reddened when she realized Syaoran had been staring at her. She smiled shyly under his intense amber gaze.

"So we're here." Sakura started, her eyes wandering around the place again. She tilted her head curiously as she asked the fatal question. "What's the problem?" Her gaze landed amusedly at the crumpled up napkin in his grasp. "Run out of napkins?"

Syaoran let out a nervous breath, "Actually, no, that's-" He cleared his throat, "see, I'm - I was having a little trouble asking...um," he chuckled lightly, "a lady out on a date."

Sakura's smile widened completely to a grin. She couldn't keep the delight off of her face. "Really?" She feigned ignorance. "And how did you solve your problem?"

Syaoran frowned adorably at her, grumbling something about 'being such a tease' and 'it's really not funny'. He leaned forward, gathering his thoughts as he kept his eyes locked on those bright emerald orbs. "See, it all started with this woman who was really good at snogging…"

Sakura's light laugh filled the small diner as Syaoran's low baritone hummed along with her.

.

.

.

.

**A/N:** Hey, I understand that my chapters are already very long and it takes just that many extra minutes to review and stuff, so I _am_ very thankful to those few who do review. And to the silent readers: hi.

Alright, A Team readers, I know I wrote a slightly different story in The A Team with Misaki and Tsubasa, but I didn't spin a much _too_ different tale. Honestly I think this one works better.

.

.

.

"So, Mrs. and Mr. Li," The interviewer leans forward, addressing Sakura and Syaoran. "First off, congratulations! How was your honeymoon?"

"Cut short by Aspirator." Syaoran grumbled while Sakura laughed, shaking her head disapprovingly at him.

The interviewer laughed along. She, however, wanted to get straight to the point. "So obviously you two have a strong off set relationship. What about on set? Is it different?"

Sakura smiled. "yeah, of course. The thing with the first few episodes is that we're supposed to act kind of awkward, and you know, in the first few stages of our relationship."

"Is it harder than acting with, say, another actor?"

Sakura glanced at Syaoran, who made a face. Sakura laughed. "Syaoran would never let me do that - with Aspirator's script -"

"You mean with all the kissing and-"

With a cute blush, Sakura giggled, nodding. "Yeah, yeah. And yes, I think it is kind of hard, but you know that's part of acting."

"Actually, she yelled at us a lot." Syaoran cut in, his arm stretched behind Sakura's back. "Making us stick to the script after we ad libbed a little too much." At this, Sakura looked to Syaoran, sharing a secret glance.

"Really?" The interviewer turns to the camera interestedly. "Let's see them, shall we?"

"_**Marker!" A film set assistant holds the clapperboard in front of the camera, slamming it shut.**_

"Yeah." Syaoran agreed, setting the tea kettle down.

Seeing as the conversation wasn't going any further, Sakura turned around. She paused, turning to look at the man with her playful smile ever present. "For the record, I think you're incredibly fit too." She then sent him a wink, her smile widening.

"Oh - that's it - c'mere." Syaoran growled pulling a grinning Sakura in by the arm and planting a sweet kiss on her lips. When they parted, Sakura giggled. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he leaned in for another. The smile never left Sakura's face as Syaoran wrapped his arms around her waist, deepening their kiss.

Koko laughed at the pair, Kitsuneme catcalled, and Eriol grinned.

"_That's not in the script!" _The director off-stage yelled furiously.

"Oh, giv'em a moment, will ya?" Koko waved dismissively off camera somewhere.

"_**Marker!" A film set assistant holds the clapperboard in front of the camera, slamming it shut.**_

Suddenly, Syaoran jerked sharply to his right - Sakura's left. With a small yelp, she veered to her left, reflexively hanging on to the man by the neck with both of her arms.

"You did that on purpose." Sakura accused when Syaoran straightened the motorcycle.

"Only because you were asking for it." Syaoran looked out ahead, not daring to look at her.

"I was not!"

"So you weren't seducing me?"

"Seducing you?" Sakura furrowed her eyebrows. A mischievous twinkle was evident in her eye as she leaned closer to Syaoran. She blinked innocently, "what do you mean?" She ran her left fingers down his front torso, tugging at his shirt. "How could I possibly be seducing you?"

Syaoran cleared his throat, staring straight ahead. His voice noticeably dropped an octave when he muttered, "stop it." He imaginarily turned the motorcycle some, but they weren't really going anywhere. They were just acting in front of a green screen.

"Stop what?" Sakura's hand rested lightly on his chest.

"You little devil." Syaoran grumbled through gritted teeth before he bent down to place a trail of kisses up her exposed neck, across her jaw, and on her mouth. He scooted forward, his hands leaving the handles and coming to rest of Sakura's back. Sakura giggled lightly as she received the affections -

"_Syaoran Li!_" The director screamed furiously, "_keep your mouth to yourself!_"

The pair parted quickly, Syaoran looking off camera incredulously. "It was her!" He gestured wildly at his mischievous wife, "Sakura was -"

"That's it!" The director stomped on stage with the heavy packet, which was the script, in her hand. The actor and actress looked ready to bolt, Syaoran even letting out an 'uh oh'.

With the script rolled up in her hands, she hit Syaoran and Sakura on the head. Both winced, rubbing the back of their heads. The director then stomped off, but not before yelling, "STICK TO THE DAMN SCRIPT!"

"_**Marker!" A film set assistant holds the clapperboard in front of the camera, slamming it shut.**_

"You really couldn't say it?" Sakura smiled up at Syaoran, who was only millimeters away from her.

Syaoran kissed the corner of her lips one more time before moving aside. He rested his forehead on the crook of her neck with sigh. "Not you too."

"It was just one sentence."

"Not everyone's perfect, love." Syaoran grumbled, his voice muffled.

Sakura shifted her eyes left to try to look at him. "You mean nobody's perfect?"

Syaoran lifted his head, smiling charmingly at her. "I would've meant that had I not met you."

She grinned brightly in response, kissing him on the lips again as a sweet 'thank you'. When she parted, however, she wouldn't let the topic go. "All that and you couldn't say a simple, 'would you be my date?'"

Syaoran leaned his forehead back on her shoulder. "You're giving the bloke who just snogged you senseless a lot of grief, you know that?"

Sakura looked as if ready to reply, then she was distracted by movement at the edge of the scene. The director had moved closer. Syaoran followed her gaze, looking sheepishly at the director.

"That was...that was actually good." The director admitted reluctantly. "It might be too much chemistry for a couple that just gone on their first date though." She turned, lifting her hand in a circle as a gesture to 'wrap it up.'

"**Cut!"**

The scene returned back to the interview as the interviewer aww-ed and ooh-ed at the actor and actress' interactions. "Did the director keep any of your ad libs?"

"Oh, yes, she did." Sakura nodded, looking to Syaoran for confirmation. "I was on the motorcycle trying to get into character and shoot and all that, and I was thinking, 'I'm supposed to be able to shoot out their tires when they're all over the place and I'm all over the place'?"

"And then she actually said it out loud." Syaoran continued the story for his wife. "I just went along with it."

"Did you actually have a bulletproof vest?"

"Are you kidding?" Syaoran answered easily, "Of course I did. Aspirator might've hired skilled marksmen but I still don't wanna die."


End file.
